


i like you more than quidditch

by straelamo



Series: enha at hogwarts [1]
Category: ENHYPEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, also complicated families, and a little bit of found family, and kinda slow burn tbh, but mostly theyre just cute, get your wholesome relationships here, lots of quidditch, minor jake/sunghoon, mysterious back stories, not all fun and games though, obligatory Hogwarts AU, theres trouble afoot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 40,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28619811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/straelamo/pseuds/straelamo
Summary: “I don’t cheeragainstHufflepuff, I just cheer for everyone,” Jungwon says, drinking the last of his butterbeer. “It’s much more fun that way- if you don’t care, you aren’t disappointed by any of the matches!”Jake snorts, “Spoken like a true Hufflepuff.”“Except, he does care a little bit…” Heeseung says, cocking one eyebrow.Sunoo sits up straighter, propping his arms on the table, “What does that mean?”“I don’t know,” Heeseung says, “But for someone who claims not to like Quidditch, he seems awfully interested anytime a certain Slytherin Keeper saves a goal…”“No way!” Sunoo gasps, “You like JAY?!”Or, yeah, Jungwon likes Jay, but he's perfectly content to keep his distance and admire from afar. Apparently, Jay doesn't get the message.
Relationships: Kim Sunoo/Nishimura Riki | Ni-ki, Park Jongseong | Jay/Yang Jungwon
Series: enha at hogwarts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2216514
Comments: 212
Kudos: 492





	1. good to be back

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I've never written for enhypen before, but I've had this written since i-land, so i thought i'd finally post it. 
> 
> Just to clear it up:  
> Niki - 4th year slytherin  
> Jungwon - 5th year hufflepuff  
> Sunoo - 5th year hufflepuff  
> Jake - 6th year gryffindor  
> Sunghoon - 6th year ravenclaw  
> Jay - 6th year slytherin  
> Heeseung - 6th year ravenclaw
> 
> hope you enjoy:)

Jungwon doesn’t even like Quidditch, not really, and Hufflepuff is predicted to have a terrible season this year, but he can’t deny how much of a _rush_ it is to be back at a game. The wicked weather whipping players around the field, the pull in his chest as he cheers alongside his friends and the rest of the spectators. The swooping feeling in his stomach as Hufflepuff almost, _almost_ wins- and then the little golden snitch is escaping everyone’s sight, and the chasers jump right back into action.

Hufflepuff, as expected, is losing, but the perk of not really caring means Jungwon gets to enjoy himself no matter who wins the match. He’s got a Hufflepuff scarf fluttering around his neck, and a green-silver sign that says, “GO NIKI!” He screams his head off every time someone scores, and he boos whenever someone gets hurt.

Niki flies by for a moment, having found them in the stands, and Jungwon lifts the sign over his head, cheering. For the moment he has to spare, Niki points at them in the crowd with his beater’s bat and blows a kiss in their direction, ever the confident one as long as he was on a broom. Jungwon cheers even louder as Sunoo flushes, smiles wide, and pretends to faint into Heeseung’s arms. Niki’s mouth opens in a laugh, though he’s too far away to hear it over the wind and the cheers. 

The sure-fire win is catching up now, as the announcer yells out another 10 points for Slytherin, and there isn’t a single green-robed player without a smile on their face. 

“-And Slytherin Beater Niki swooped around with a save on a nicely aimed hit by Hufflepuff Beater Mingi, opening up that pathway for- OH! The tide turns! Slytherin’s Yeonjun fumbles the quaffle and it’s picked up by Hufflepuff Chaser Kai!” The announcer screams into the magical megaphone. “Kai’s flying it down the field, he’s closing in on the rings, he shoots and- WOW! Stopped by an _incredible_ block from Slytherin Keeper Jay! He’s not Captain for nothing, folks!”

The commentator’s remarks are supported by the chant of ‘Cap-tain Jay! Cap-tain Jay!’ that starts up from the Slytherins, while the Hufflepuff section fills up with groans at the near miss. Jungwon joins in the chant, and Heeseung reaches around Sunoo to poke him on the shoulder, wiggling his eyebrows. Jungwon just rolls his eyes. 

“Wooyoung’s got his eye on the snitch!” Sunoo says excitedly, pointing down at the far left of the pitch, where, sure enough, the Slytherin Seeker is zooming towards the goal posts. The announcer and Hufflepuff’s seeker both take notice soon after, and with a quick maneuver, the seekers are neck in neck. 

The whole stadium seems to draw in a breath, even the harsh winds pausing at the penultimate point in the match- Slytherin are up by a lot, but not enough to win if Hufflepuff nabs the snitch.

The two seekers push hard, both urging their brooms as far forward as they can go, getting closer and closer to the ground until- the players tumble into each other, rolling off their brooms and landing hard on the grass.

There’s a collective gasp from the stadium, and the seekers get wearily to their feet. Then, Wooyoung smiles, and raises his fist in the air- something gold glints in his hand.

The pitch erupts in cheers and chants, players flying down and spectators pushing to get to the field, Jungwon right along with them. Sunoo pushes through and grabs onto Jungwon’s arm, yanking it back and forth as he jumps up and down.

“We won, we won!” He chants, and Jungwon can hear Heeseung and Sunghoon laughing behind them. On the other side of Jungwon, Jake starts grumbling about technicalities and what the scores mean for Gryffindor’s season, and Jungwon just rolls his eyes and tugs teasingly at Jake’s scarlett scarf.

The pitch is a madhouse when they finally get to the field, as it always is, and the Slytherin’s have swarmed the house team. Wooyoung sits in the center of it all, waving the snitch around, and Jungwon spots Niki as one of the shoulder’s Wooyoung is suspended on, as big a smile as ever plastered on his face, Slytherin’s Captain Jay beside him as the other.

Sports fans are crazy on a regular day, not to mention that this is the first game of the season, and the next hour is a blur as Jungwon and his friends congratulate Niki and his team, and head back into the castle for dinner.

Jungwon rides the high of just an all-around good day. Maybe he doesn’t like Quidditch, but he sure as hell loves Hogwarts. It’s good to be back.

The Slytherin’s host the congratulatory party after dinner, of course, and as Niki’s friends, the rest of the group gets a free pass into the house common room for the night.

It starts off strong as soon as they walk through the door, a big cheer going through the room and more than a few bottles of butterbeer popping open. Jungwon cranes his neck to see what the fuss is, and isn’t surprised when he spots Wooyoung on the top of a table in the center of the room, snitch in his hand, his boyfriend, San, congratulating him with a kiss that’s nearly indecent for a public setting.

Jungwon chuckles, grabbing a butterbeer and heading over to join his friends at a more secluded table in the corner. 

Sunoo is poking good-naturedly at Niki’s flushed cheeks, the athlete’s humble timidness coming back now that he’s off the field. 

“Our Niki! MVP!” Sunoo coos, laying his head on Niki’s shoulder, whose ears go even redder. “Slytherin’s pride!”

“Stop it,” Niki grumbles, but not even a Fidelius charm could hide the smile on his face. 

“You played great today, Niki,” Sunghoon comments genuinely with a warm expression. Then he nudges Jake with a smirk, “Gryffindor’s going to have a hell of a time two weeks from now.”

“Hey!” Jake sputters, indignant and, Jungwon knows, probably a little flustered from Sunghoon’s attention. “Gryffindor’s got that game in the bag!”

Sunoo laughs, “Care to bet?”

Jake sighs, “Sunoo, Hufflepuff _needs_ Gryffindor to win against Slytherin if you guys want any hope of making it to the final-”

“Listen,” Sunoo cuts him off, “You know where my loyalties have lied ever since Niki made the house team. Sorry, but I’m going to have to root against you,” he says good-naturedly. 

“Sunoo!” Jungwon gasps exaggeratedly, “What would Helga Hufflepuff say?”

“She’d say to root for your boyfriend!” Sunoo answers decisively, and beside him, Niki blushes redder than Jake’s scarf. 

“You should just give up ,” Heeseung says to Jake, “Sunoo’s been biased towards Niki since first year- there’s no changing his mind.”

“Fine,” Jake laughs, “Be a house traitor if you want!” 

“Jungwon does the same thing!” Sunoo defends.

“I don’t cheer _against_ Hufflepuff, I just cheer for everyone,” Jungwon says, drinking the last of his butterbeer. “It’s much more fun that way- if you don’t care, you aren’t disappointed by any of the matches!”

Jake snorts, “Spoken like a true Hufflepuff.”

“Except, he does care a little bit…” Heeseung says, cocking one eyebrow. 

Sunoo sits up straighter, propping his arms on the table, “What does that mean?” He asks, always intrigued by gossip. Jungwon, who knows where this is going, turns red and curses his past self for thinking it was a good idea to confide in Heeseung.

“I don’t know,” Heeseung says, “But for someone who claims not to like Quidditch, he seems awfully interested anytime a certain Slytherin Keeper saves a goal…” Heeseung takes a smug sip of his drink.

“No way!” Sunoo gasps, “You like JAY?!” 

Jungwon groans, putting his face in his hands, “Say it a little louder, I don’t think _Ilvermorny_ heard you!”

“Aww!” Sunoo coos, and then starts tugging on Niki’s arm, “Niki, you have to introduce-”

“No!” Jungwon cuts in, “Absolutely not! It’s just a crush, just let me admire from afar and never talk to him, and it’ll all turn out fine!”

“Why?” Jake asks. “He’s right over there. Both Niki and Heeseung know him, we could just call him over to talk and-”

“Nope, nope, and nope,” Jungwon says. “Seriously, guys, I don’t like him that much. Just let it go.”

“Alright,” Sunghoon says, a cheesy grin on his face, “As long as you go get us more drinks!”

Jungwon rolls his eyes, but gets up from the table anyway, his friends cheering as he walks to the drinks, set up on a charmed table near where they’re sitting. The crowd filling the Slytherin common room seems even louder now, the dancing in the center getting more and more racy, and Jungwon thinks they have maybe an hour before Professor Min comes to shut it down. 

The drink options are limited to butterbeer and more butterbeer, so Jungwon cradles six bottles in his arms, shifting carefully so he doesn’t drop any of them. He’s so focused on the bottles that he doesn’t notice anyone else walking up to the table, and he stumbles right into them when he turns around.

Just his luck that it’s _Jay-fucking-Park_ , Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. 

“Oh, sorry!” Jay says, steadying Jungwon with a hand at his shoulder, and they must be in transfiguration because Jay just turned him into goo.

“Uh,” He says eloquently, “Sorry! I should look where I’m going! Good luck on the game- I mean, good job! On the game today!” Oh god, someone stop him, _please_ , “You made lots of good… catches?” 

“Saves,” Jay corrects, smiling, and for as much as Jungwon insisted this was a small crush, it most definitely was _not_. “Thank you! You’re Jungwon, right? Niki did well, too!”

“Oh, Niki?” 

“Yeah, aren’t you guys friends?” Jay asks, cool as a cucumber. Meanwhile, Jungwon’s brain is still reeling a little at the length of this conversation and the fact that Jay apparently knows his name.

“Yeah, yeah, we are.”

Jay smiles wider, “Is that why you cheered for Slytherin over your own house?” 

“Um, yep,” Jungwon gulps, and laughs nervously, “That, and I don’t really know all that much about Quidditch. Not that devastating to me if Hufflepuff loses.”

“Well,” Jay says brightly, grabbing a butterbeer bottle from the make-shift refreshments table, “If you need someone to teach you, I’d love to help.”

Jungwon just barely stops his jaw from going slack. Jay? Is offering to help him? With Quidditch? Is Jungwon missing something? Are he and Jay friends? Did they have a conversation he forgot about, or something?

Jungwon clears his throat, “Um, thanks for the offer, but-”

“Oh, of course,” Jay laughs, gesturing with his butterbeer, “You’re friends with Niki _and_ Jake. Obviously, if you have questions, you would go to them,” He says, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck with his free hand. 

“Well,” Jay continues, “Sorry. For bumping into you. I’ll let you get back to your friends.”

“Yeah, sorry again,” Jungwon says, inching back towards his table, where he realizes all of his friends are currently watching him and Jay intently. Damn them.

“No big deal,” Jay assures, “Will I see you at the next match?”

Jungwon smiles shyly, both wanting this conversation to stop right now and to go on forever. “I’ll be the Hufflepuff in green,” He says.

Jay smirks, “I’ll keep an eye out,” and then he gives Jungwon a salute and walks back into the crowd.

Jungwon lets out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding, and walks back over to his table, where all his friends wear obnoxious grins. 

They all reach up to grab butterbeers from his arms, and Heeseung smirks, “Don’t even like him that much, my ass!”

Jungwon groans, “Oh, shut up,” and the whole table erupts in giggles. 

“Seriously,” Niki says, twisting the cap off his drink, “If you want me to introduce you, or like, talk you up at practice-”

“No, really. I’m fine.”

“Might not need help anyway,” Sunoo says, “Seems like that went pretty well.” He lilts his voice mockingly, “ _‘I’ll be the Hufflepuff in green,’_ What a line!”

Jungwon groans again, dropping into his seat and laying his head on the table. “I can’t believe that happened.”

“Honestly, Won-ie, it’s not as hopeless as you think,” Heeseung says, rubbing Jungwon’s back consolingly.

“Yeah,” Sunghoon backs him up, “You were too busy being embarrassed to notice, but I think… Jay might like you.”

“What!” Jungwon says, head snapping up from the table, “No way! He wasn’t- that wasn’t flirting, he was just being nice!”

“Offering to spend time with you, asking if you’ll be at the next game, asking about your friends- I don’t know, Won-ie, seems kind of like flirting to me…” Heeseung says.

“Guys, really,” Jungwon says, holding his butterbeer close to his chest, “Just leave it. Please.”

“Alright, alright,” Sunoo says, downing the rest of his butterbeer. “C’mon Niki, let’s get a dance in before Professor Min gets here.”

Jungwon smiles, mood lifting a little at the way Niki grumbles and follows Sunoo over to the crowd. 

“What do you say, Jake,” Sunghoon asks, Jake’s face immediately blushing, “Want to dance?”

Jake nods, taking Sunghoon’s outstretched hand, and they stumble over to the crowd, too. Heeseung laughs at them, shaking his head.

“Just us,” Heeseung says, “Come on, dance with me, Jungwon-ie.”

Jungwon smiles, “Fine, but only because it’s the first Quidditch match of the season.”

Heeseung laughs again, “Come on, loverboy,” and they smush their way onto the dance floor.


	2. stupid rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!
> 
> Thank you all so much to the response to the first chapter!! Your comments are so nice :')
> 
> I probably won't be updating this fast every time, in fact I guarantee that I won't, but I've never had a response like this to a fic, so that was a big motivator:D
> 
> anyway, here's the chapter, hope you enjoy!!

“So,” Sunoo starts, when they sit down for breakfast the next morning, the great hall buzzing around them with students an magic, “When are you going to talk to Jay again?”

Jungwon groans, dropping his head on the table. “Oh, just leave me alone about it!”

“Why, Won-ie? I’m serious- after that conversation, I really think he might like you!” Sunoo says excitedly, far too awake for the hour. He grabs some toast and starts to lather it with butter and strawberry jam. 

“I just didn’t see what you guys saw. He was just being polite,” Jungwon insists, furrowing his eyebrows and bunching his robes in his hands as he fiddles with his prefect’s pin.

Sunoo rolls his eyes, “You’re just in denial- I mean, he knows your name, he knows who your friends are- at the very least, he’s interested,” he says, and then takes a big crunchy bite of his toast.

“Sunoo,” Jungwon insists, smoothing his robes back and turning to look at his friend straight-on, “Jay is friends with Niki. They play Quidditch together, and we hang around him all the time. Of course he knows my name. He only talked to me last night because he practically ran me over, and was just doing what any decent person would do,” Jungwon sighs, “Please, just let it go. It’s too early for this.”

“Fine,” Sunoo says, shaking his head and turning back to his breakfast, “But when he asks you out in a few days, I reserve the right to say I told you so.”

“Who’s asking who out?” Comes a new voice, and Jungwon turns to see Jake headed their way. 

“No one,” Jungwon groans. 

“Jay’s asking Jungwon out.”

“No, he’s not!” Jungwon insists.

“Ah, always thought he’d be the bold type,” Jake says, completely ignoring Jungwon.

“You guys suck,” Jungwon grumbles, and in response, Sunoo puffs his cheeks up with air, poking one side and winking in a pseudo-cutesy request for forgiveness. Jungwon snorts and lightly pushes Sunoo’s face away.

“You’re gross,” he says. “This is why I didn’t tell you all in the first place.”

“Fine, fine,” Sunoo laughs, “Seriously, I’ll drop it.”

Jake sits down next Jungwon, grabbing an apple from the table and changing the topic. “So, Heeseung and Sunghoon are talking to Professor Salamanca right now, any guesses why?”

“Oh, um, they burned down a desk?” Sunoo takes a wild guess.

“Or they blew something up in the potions room?” Jungwon shoots.

Sunoo sits up straighter, pointing a finger at Jake, “Oh! They finally annoyed the ghosts too much, and now they’re being haunted!”

“Um, no,” Jake says, “Why did you immediately assume they were in trouble?”

“Well, just tell us then,” Sunoo says, popping the last of his toast in his mouth and munching on it.

Jake pauses for effect, “Drumroll, please,” He says, “They are trying to start the dueling club back up!” 

“Wait- really?” Sunoo asks, and Jake nods.

“Wow, that’s exciting!” Jungwon exclaims, “I can’t wait to see Heeseung show off.”

“Oh, god,” Jake laughs, “Remember that summer he went to the dueling camp?”

“Yeah, and when he came back, he was still infuriatingly humble about having won the whole tournament at the end,” Jungwon groans at the memory.

“Dueling-Ace H!” Sunoo adds excitedly, recalling the nickname Heeseung had carried all of 4th year.

The three of them break into laughter at the memory, and all the embarrassing moments the nickname had caused. Heeseung was always trying to deny it, and there was one time he tried to prove he wasn’t that good and accidentally knocked Sunghoon halfway across the courtyard! And then there was the time-

“Excuse me, young man,” A deep voice says from the other side of the table, interrupting their reminiscing and calling the trio’s attention.

“Uh, yes, sir?” Jake says, clearing his throat and avoiding Professor Kim’s direct gaze. 

“May I ask why you, a Gryffindor, are currently seated at the Hufflepuff table?” The charms teacher asks haughtily. 

“Oh, sorry, sir, I was just talking to-” Jake starts, but Professor Kim cuts him off again.

“I didn’t ask for an explanation, just go to the correct table before I take points away from Gryffindor.”

Before he can think better of it, Jungwon blurts, “But you did ask for an explanation.”

Professor Kim’s piercing gaze slowly turns to Jungwon, as Jake and Sunoo’s surprised ones do the same.

“Um,” Jake says, standing and grabbing his bag, “I’m just going to go back to the Gryffindor table,” and when no one answers, he nods awkwardly and heads to the other side of the great hall.

“Would you like detention, Mr. Yang?” Professor Kim says, one eyebrow raised smugly, “Being a prefect doesn’t give you the right to disrespect a teacher.”

“No, sir,” Jungwon says, face flushing, “Sorry, sir. I didn’t intend to… um, sorry. Sir.”

“One comment isn’t grounds for detention, but I think 10 points from Hufflepuff should do the trick,” Professor Kim says, and Jungwon nods sheepishly. He never lost points- never.

“Don’t let me see you or your friends at the wrong table again.”

“Yes, sir,” Jungwon says, and Professor Kim finally walks away.

“God,” Sunoo says, “What an asshole.”

“Sunoo!” 

“I’m serious!” Sunoo insists, “Who even enforces that rule? No one!”

“Sunoo, really-”

“And you didn’t even do anything against the rules!” Sunoo exclaims, and then he rethinks and looks at Jungwon. 

“Well, you did kind of do something,” He says, “Which I’m actually quite proud of you for, but still! Who does he think he is, enforcing stupid rules and taking points away from Prefect Jungwon Yang?”

Jungwon chuckles, shoulders relaxing, Sunoo’s indignation distracting him a little. 

“Thanks, Ddunoo, I’m glad you care so much.”

“Well,” Sunoo says, huffing, “They’re Hufflepuff’s points!”

“Oh, I see,” Jungwon laughs again, “It isn’t even about me- just the points.”

“Well, yeah!” Sunoo says, “We don’t have a chance at the Quidditch Cup, so the least we could win is the House.”

“Good to know where your priorities are.”

“Where they ought to be,” Sunoo defends.

“Shouldn’t they be with your friends?” Jungwon asks, “Or at the very least, your boyfriend?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sunoo says, and then looks over at Jungwon, a smile threatening to break. “Please don’t tell Niki that I thought house points were more important than him for a second.”

Jungwon laughs, and Sunoo’s smile cracks open, “Don’t worry,” Jungwon says, “I’ll keep it to myself. I think Niki knows that he’s number one on your list.”

“Thanks,” Sunoo says, “Besides, if Niki thought I was even a little bit sad about Hufflepuff losing, he might actually try to throw the next match.”

Jungwon laughs again, “Why do our conversations always come back to Quidditch?”

“Because we’re both in love with Quidditch players,” Sunoo says casually, beginning to pack up his book bag.

“Yeah, you’re- Wait- Hey! I’m not _in love_! I thought you said you would let that go?” Jungwon pouts.

Sunoo smirks, standing up and shouldering his bag, “Can’t let go of the truth,” he goads, and jumps off towards the entrance, out of reach of the punch Jungwon swings his way.

One of Jungwon’s favorite things about Hogwarts is the Black Lake. There’s so much beautiful scenery around, especially compared to back home in the city. The weather’s perfect, not quite too cold yet, and a light breeze sends ripples out across the inky water. Sunoo, Niki, and he found their usual spot near the shore, Jungwon leaned back against a tree, Sunoo and Niki lying in the grass. 

Being surrounded by nature just makes everything easier- studying, relaxing... dealing with your friends’ gross PDA.

“Sunoo, please, I’m trying to study,” Niki insists, but then laughs and does nothing to push Sunoo off of him.

“I’m studying too!” Sunoo says, “Studying you!” and then he starts pecking kisses onto Niki’s face. Niki blushes, but has apparently decided there are few enough people around to let the assault of kisses continue.

“Guys,” Jungwon says eventually, “Really? Some of us are _actually_ trying to study.”

“Why?” Sunoo says, “It’s Sunday.”

“Sure, but we have OWLs this year. I’m trying to get a head start!” Jungwon explains.

“Already?” Niki asks, incredulous, “It’s only September!”

“Yeah,” Jungwon says, “Which means I only have seven months left to prepare.”

Niki groans, dropping the book he was never really studying from in the first place. “Man, I am really not looking forward to next year.”

“You know, some 4th years are already studying for the OWLs,” Jungwon says. 

Sunoo sits up and grabs Niki’s book, setting it aside. “I’m pretty sure Heeseung started studying the summer before his _3rd_ year,” Sunoo finishes, shifting around to finally settle with his head on Niki’s stomach. 

“Ugh,” Niki groans, “ _Ravenclaws_.” 

Niki’s hand finds its way to pet at Sunoo’s hair, and it’s far too cute and loving for Jungwon to keep watching, so he turns his eyes back around to the lake. He got just enough homework done to guiltlessly give up on studying for the rest of the day, and he sets his books to the side, content to enjoy the nice weather for a little while.

“Hey,” he thinks aloud a moment later, seeing a familiar face sitting alone a little ways down the shore of the lake. “Why’s Jay by himself?”

“Hm?”

“Jay, he’s just sitting over there by himself.”

“Is that illegal?” Sunoo asks, and when Jungwon looks back over, he has his eyes closed, a small, content smile on his face as Niki’s hand continues to smooth through his hair. Jungwon looks away quickly.

“No, I just usually see him with friends, that’s all,” Jungwon frowns. 

“Maybe he just wanted some alone time,” Niki says.

“I guess,” Jungwon says, “I was just wondering.”

Sunoo and Niki stay quiet after that, and when Jungwon looks back, they’ve both closed their eyes, Niki’s hand moved from Sunoo’s hair to hold his hand instead. 

The immediate need to look away surfaces again, and it’s with surprise that Jungwon realizes he can’t look at them because he’s _jealous_.

For a brief, terrifying moment of chaos in Jungwon’s head, he thinks he’s jealous of _Sunoo_ , that he wants to be in _Sunoo’s_ place holding _Niki’s_ hand- but it’s not that. He’s jealous of the pair of them. He’s jealous that they have each other.

Jealous that he doesn’t have someone like that.

His traitorous brain immediately imagines himself down the shore, relaxing with Jay just as Sunoo and Niki are relaxing together. He imagines himself in Sunoo’s place in the Quidditch stands, and instead of Niki swooping down to blow a kiss, it’s Jay. He’s in Sunoo’s place wearing a Slytherin Quidditch jersey, but the back says ‘Park’ instead of ‘Nishimura’.

Next to him, Sunoo and Niki perk back up, bickering about something light-heartedly, but Jungwon is spiraling down the rabbit hole into this crush so hard that he doesn’t register what they’re saying until Sunoo sits up and addresses him directly.

“Jungwon, want to come with me?”

“Sure,” Jungwon answers mindlessly, “Where are we going?”

Sunoo cheers gleefully, “Slytherin Quidditch practice!” He exclaims, and _that_ is one way to pull Jungwon out of crush-fantasy land.

“Wait, what?” Jungwon asks, looking at Sunoo in horror. “No, I don’t want to go!”

“Nuh-uh,” Sunoo says, “No take-backsies, Won-ie!”

Jungwon keeps protesting half-heartedly, but Sunoo won’t hear any of it, and it doesn’t take long for him to give in. So, they end up with plans to sit in on Slytherin’s Thursday Quidditch practice.

(Jungwon might have to finally admit, he doesn’t really want to keep crushing on Jay from a distance- he kind of, maybe, just a little bit, _really_ wants to go watch practice. Maybe it’s worth the risk- to have what Sunoo and Niki have.)

(Not that he’s about to let that information slip to _anyone_.)

The next morning sees Jungwon eating breakfast by himself, as, with their new schedules this year, Sunoo has an early Monday Divination period. Though his other friends have the morning free as well, Professor Kim has been consistently preventing inter-house table switching. 

He doesn’t mind that much, honestly. The introverted side of him enjoys the quiet start to the week. It gives him time to think about whatever classwork he has coming up, and with the free period, he has time to read through the Daily Prophet slowly and thoroughly, like he doesn’t normally get to. 

Just as he thinks about it, nearly a hundred owls begin to swoop into the great hall, a myriad of newspapers, letters, and packages in their clutches. 

He sees Heeseung and Sunghoons’ owls glide over to the Ravenclaw table, and he gives them a quick wave when Heeseung catches his eye.

Before long, his own owl, a small Spotted Owlet named Eggie, drops down in front of him. There’s a wax-sealed letter attached to her leg alongside the daily newspaper. 

Jungwon smiles- his sister Jinsun’s loopy cursive is scrawled across the front. Jungwon eagerly cracks the seal.

 _Jungwon-ie_ , he reads.

_It was good to hear from you. Seeing an owl swoop in the window for the first time in so long was like a breath of fresh air. It’s true- you really do start to miss magic._

_I’ve sent Mom and Dad a few more letters, through the muggle post, but there’s been no response. Not that I expected one really. The first few I sent have already been returned to me._

_Thankfully, I am safer now that I have the job at the diner. A coworker of mine was willing to rent out a room to me for a very discounted price, on the grounds that once I get my feet back underneath me I will be able to pay her back._

_As for your idea, absolutely not. If you really want to help me, stay at Hogwarts and finish your studies. Just because Mom and Dad turned their backs on me doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take full advantage of their wealth while you can. At the least, just graduate, and then maybe we can work something out. Please, for me?_

_(If I get word that you’ve ignored me and done something stupid, I will find a wizard to write you a howler, and embarrass you in front of the whole school.)_

_On that note, though, how are your classes going? Are you taking anything new this year? What have you learned already? And don’t hold back for my sake, I want to hear everything about Hogwarts that I can!_

_(What about that crush of yours? Am I allowed to ask about that yet?)_

_Work has been taking up a great deal of my time, but I will try harder to write more frequently. Send Eggie up here more often, even if you don’t have something to send with her, so I can write to you without waiting for a letter. (Plus, she’s a good little glimpse of magic, and I need as much of that as I can get.)_

_Write me again soon, and tell me everything! And make plans to visit around Christmas!_

_I love you!_

_Jinsun_

Jungwon smiles, mood lifted from the note despite the reminder of his family troubles that it brings. 

He’s so proud of Jinsun for taking what she was given and running with it. He wouldn’t have been brave enough to stake out on his own that young, not that Jinsun really had a choice, but she’s still far stronger than he will ever be.

He’d never thought his parents capable of turning away their own child, and it’s turned his whole worldview this year. Social perception makes people do crazy things. Apparently for his parents, supporting a _squib_ no longer fit the bill.

Thankfully, his friends have been as goofy and genuine as usual, and though he hasn’t told them about his familial problems, it still helps just to have them there. 

Jungwon pulls out a piece of parchment, and starts to write her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Just a note, I have no idea if jungwon has any real siblings, but for the sake of this story, he just has the one sister:)
> 
> also, this one is the set up for a few plot points, so sorry about no direct jaywon this time, but you can expect some cute interactions next chapter!!
> 
> Thanks again! Hope you enjoyed:D


	3. quidditch practice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all your encouraging comments on chapter 2:')
> 
> (honestly surprised at myself for getting this done in a timely manner... me? sticking to a schedule?)
> 
> anyway, enjoy!

Heeseung gets approval for the dueling club on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning, he’s got bright, flashing posters advertising the first meeting in every nook and cranny of the school. The meeting is to be tomorrow night, Friday, an hour after dinner. Jungwon’s really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately for Jungwon, though, if tomorrow is Friday, then that means today is Thursday, and that means he has to go to Slytherin’s Quidditch practice tonight. Ugh. Wishful thinking, but maybe it will turn out to be nothing, and he’ll just watch Niki play and then be on his way, and he won’t even see Jay at all. 

As his classes pass one by one that day, he finds himself cursing Sunoo Kim more and more. 

Sunoo finds him in the library at 3:45 on the dot, 15 minutes before practice starts. Sunoo forces one of Niki’s Slytherin scarves around Jungwon’s neck, saying it was only polite to wear green to a Slytherin practice. 

They walk onto the pitch at the same time as Slytherin’s team spills out from the locker rooms. Just as Jungwon had wished they wouldn’t be, he and Sunoo are noticed right away. Niki sends a wave over first, and the rest of the team follows suit. 

Sunoo, embarrassingly, straightens his arm all the way in the air and starts jumping up and down screaming, “Niki! Hey! You’re gonna do great!” Jungwon grumbles, shaking his head, and starts dragging Sunoo over to the spectator stands.

(A quick look back at the team shows Niki getting ribbed by everyone for the blush on his face after Sunoo’s enthusiastic greeting.)

The team has started warming up by the time they find a spot in the stands, and immediately Jungwon reaches for his bag, pulling out the potions textbook he had been reviewing before Sunoo kidnapped him from the library. This may not be a complete waste of time if he can get some studying done before the team starts practicing.

“Uh, nope!” Sunoo says upon noticing the books. “You are not going to sit there and study.” He snatches Jungwon’s bag and textbook, setting them down on the other side of him. 

“What else am I supposed to do then?”

“Watch,” Sunoo says, rolling his eyes, and then fixing them on the team stretching out down on the pitch.

“You’re gross,” Jungwon says, “Stop ogling.”

Sunoo laughs, “I’m not ogling, I’m admiring!” He insists, propping up his head with a hand under his chin, “Admiring how cute Niki is when he’s with the team. They all baby him!”

“You’re so gone for him,” Jungwon observes, leaning back against the next row of benches. 

“Hey, at least I admit that. You, on the other hand,” Sunoo says, “You’re worse, because you’re whipped _and_ in denial.”

Jungwon groans, “I’m not-” But just then, down on the pitch, Jay blows a whistle, and the team is up in the air. Jungwon cuts himself off as Jay starts handing out directions, back straight on his broom, “leader” practically oozing out of him.

“Sure,” Sunoo laughs, “You’re _not_.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Admittedly, the practice is pretty fun to watch. It’s different from a Quidditch game- less stakes, less grit- but it’s practice, so the players allow themselves to try moves they wouldn’t normally risk in a game. Sometimes, the maneuver doesn’t work, but sometimes it does, and those are the coolest moments. 

Wooyoung, the team’s Seeker, pulls a pretty impressive dive after the snitch, swooping dangerously close to the spectator stands. He flies back up without the snitch in his hand, but the team still gives him a big cheer for the flying.

Niki and Yeonjun, the other beater, execute a tricky pass of the bludger in a way you would usually see a quaffle handled, guiding it across the field for a controlled hit towards the goal posts. If they had been playing against another team, they could’ve knocked out a Chaser about to score.

And Jay- well, Jay plays _remarkably_ well. Even a stranger would admit it. It’s different from Saturday’s game, the way he holds himself. There’s still the commitment and determination of active play, but also a sophisticated, watchful eye in the way he corrects the other players and calls out strategies.

There’s one point that Jungwon doesn’t even realize he’s been staring until Jay looks back and meets his eye. Jungwon curses the blush that crawls up his ears, and then curses himself for agreeing to come to the practice at all. 

The next time Jay catches him staring, he waves towards the stands. The next time, he winks. 

The next time, Jungwon’s staring distracts Jay enough for him to get hit by the Quaffle, and Jungwon forces himself to keep his eyes _away_.

After practice ends, the sky lit up orange as the sun sets, Niki and Jay meet Sunoo and Jungwon at the exit of the stands.

“The Hufflepuffs in green,” Jay says, “Not sure if I can let you back into my practice. How do I know you aren’t here as spies?” He asks conspiratorially, furrowing his eyebrows in playful seriousness. 

Niki laughs, and answers for them. “No worries, Cap. These two have never even held a quaffle. I don’t think they were memorizing any strategies.”

Jay chuckles, propping himself on his broom as he leans to the side. (Since when was that such an attractive way to stand?)

“That’s not true!” Sunoo protests, “I know loads about Quidditch.”

“Oh, yeah? What?” Niki goads, a challenging look on his face.

“I know Niki’s the _best_ Beater in the whole _world_ ,” Sunoo says, and just like that, ‘Confident Quidditch-player Niki’ becomes ‘Sunoo’s boyfriend Niki’- shy and blushing.

“What about you, Jungwon,” Jay says, hair looking unfairly nice and tousled for having just flown around for an hour and a half, “Know much about Quidditch?”

“I know Gryffindor doesn’t stand a chance next weekend,” He says genuinely, and the smile that pulls onto Jay’s face makes it worth the hours he just spent watching people play a game he doesn’t care anything about.

“Well,” Jay says, “By those answers, you both seem thoroughly knowledgeable about the game, so, my point stands- I might have to kick you out of practice next time.”

They all laugh, and Jay continues, looking right at Jungwon, “That, and you’re far too distracting.” 

If it had been anyone else saying it, Jungwon might brush it off as a flirty joke, but Jay has this genuine aura about him that kind of makes Jungwon think he means it.

Jungwon is too shocked from the comment to think of something to say, but they’re luckily saved by another team member calling out for Jay and Niki to come take their turns in the showers. 

“Ah, got to get going then,” Jay says, and it might just be Jungwon’s crush-addled brain, but he swears Jay looks kind of disappointed. “See you later?” He asks, waiting for Jungwon’s nod, and then he heads off towards the showers with one last two fingered salute sent their way. Niki leans over to peck Sunoo on the cheek, and then runs after Jay.

Once they’re out of earshot, Sunoo looks pointedly at Jungwon, and then punches him on the arm.

“He so likes you.”

“Shut _up_.”

The next day, Friday, Jungwon and Sunoo have their dreaded Charms class with Professor Kim, who seems to have made it his mission to find every mistake Jungwon makes. 

Hufflepuff shares the class with Slytherin, and though they’re only a few weeks into the year, the most unified Jungwon has ever personally seen the two houses is in Professor Kim’s class. Common enemy, and all that.

They have the dueling club meeting tonight, and having something to look forward to makes it all a little more bearable, but Jungwon knows from the moment they step into the room that this class is not going to be fun.

Professor Kim begins class by saying, “I’ve changed the seating arrangement.” 

When the first change he makes is separating Jeno and Jaemin, Hufflepuff and Slytherin respectively, as well as best friends, the whole class seems to deflate. Just that one move tells them that this new seating chart is purely to move everyone as far from their friends as possible.

As expected, Jungwon ends up across the room from Sunoo, who gives him a very dramatic goodbye hug before dragging his feet to his desk. Luckily, Jungwon’s new desk partner is Huening Kai, a fellow Hufflepuff, and they get along decently.

As usual, Professor Kim is keen to use every second of the class period, and once everyone has settled into their new seats, he quiets the room quickly, and starts on the lesson.

“As you all should see from the board, and as you should know from last week’s assigned readings, we will be reviewing banishing charms and beginning work on summoning charms today,” He starts, voice already a droning nuisance. “May I have a volunteer to demonstrate a banishing charm for the class?”

A few hands go up, and luckily Professor Kim doesn’t take the obnoxious route and pick someone that isn’t volunteering. He calls on Yeji, one of Slytherin’s prefects, who goes quickly to the front of the classroom, executing a perfect banishing charm on one of the books on Professor Kim’s desk, and then scurrying back to her seat as Professor Kim gives Slytherin 5 points.

Professor Kim then asks for someone to demonstrate a summoning spell, and Jungwon spoke too soon, because, though he hasn’t raised his hand, Jungwon’s name is the one that comes out of Professor Kim’s mouth.

“Jungwon,” he says, and Jungwon thinks a teacher shouldn’t be allowed to wear that smug an expression, “Would you perform the charm for us?”

With no other choice, Jungwon begrudgingly gets to his feet. Normally, he would be fine to demonstrate, but summoning charms were new, and he hadn’t been having much luck when he practiced on his own. (Which is why he _didn’t raise his hand_.)

“Now,” Professor Kim addresses the class, “If you’ve thoroughly done the reading from last week, this charm should be just as easy as a banishing charm. After all, they are essentially the same, just in the opposite direction. Jungwon should have no trouble.” 

Jungwon swears Professor Kim somehow knows that Jungwon will not be able to do this. It’s a ridiculous thought, but Jungwon almost has the feeling Professor Kim had watched him practice or something, and seen Jungwon struggling. Why else would he call on Jungwon when he didn’t raise his hand? It wasn’t like Jungwon was normally an inactive participant in class. 

For now, Jungwon knew he was just trying to blame Professor Kim for his own inability to perform the spell, and though the teacher was no upstanding citizen, Jungwon would give him the benefit of the doubt.

Shakily, with a deep breath, Jungwon raises his wand towards the book Yeji had thrown across the classroom a moment ago, and says, “ _Accio textbook!_ ”

Unsurprisingly, nothing happens.

Jungwon tries again, “ _Accio textbook!_ ” but when the book still stubbornly lied on the floor, Professor Kim puts an overbearing hand on Jungwon’s shoulder and sighs disappointedly.

“Ah, it appears our volunteer did not have time to do the reading this week. I’ll take 10 points for not doing the homework, and 5 for being unable to perform the spell. You may go back to your seat,” He says, unsympathetically, pushing Jungwon in the direction of his desk a little harder than necessary.

Sunoo gives him an apologetic smile as Jungwon tries not to sulk back to his desk.

He feels like walking straight out of the class. Just picking up his books and leaving. Unfortunately, that would just make things worse, and Jungwon would most like to just move on, please.

Jungwon had a nearly perfect record. He wasn’t boring by any means, but he didn’t break rules unnecessarily, and he hardly ever lost Hufflepuff points. But this year, Jungwon had lost more points than he had in all of his first four years at Hogwarts combined, taken almost entirely by Professor Kim.

They were always for arbitrary rules, too. Like sitting at a different table for meals, or the many times Professor Kim had stopped Jungwon in the hallway to take points because his tie was done incorrectly, or his prefect’s pin was crooked. (Even though it wasn’t.)

What did he have against Jungwon? 

“He’s got it out for Jungwon, I’m telling you,” Sunoo says to the group, as he, Jungwon, Niki, Jake, Sunghoon, and Heeseung walk to the dining hall together for dinner.

“Thank you!” Jungwon says, gesturing wildly with his hands.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Heeseung says, but his expression betrayed his words. 6th years had to deal with Professor Kim, too, and Jungwon didn’t doubt he was just as obnoxious in their classes.

“It’s like he is just constantly looking for a way to give me detention.” 

“Well,” Jake says, throwing an arm over Jungwon’s shoulders comfortingly, “Our Jungwon is just so perfect that he won’t find any!”

“Yeah,” Jungwon grumbles, “Except he still will.”

They reach the dining hall, and the others part ways with a quick goodbye- their new normal now that inter-house seating is forbidden.

Sunoo and Jungwon head over to the Hufflepuff table, and they’re about to sit down when a familiar face comes jogging over. 

It’s Jay, and Jungwon has to fight back the blush that threatens to bloom just at the proximity.

“Jungwon!” He says, coming to a stop, “Hey, Sunoo!” 

“Hey, Jay!” Sunoo says brightly.

“Hey,” Jungwon tries, though his greeting is significantly less boisterous than Sunoo’s.

“Um, yeah. Hi. I’ve been trying to catch you all day,” Jay says. He clears his throat, and then holds out a book Jungwon hadn’t noticed he was holding. 

“This is yours,” He explains, looking at Jungwon. “I noticed it in the stands after practice yesterday, and I saw your name in it.”

“Oh,” Jungwon says, surprised. He takes the textbook, flipping the front cover open to see his name scribbled in the corner. “Thank you!”

“Yeah, no problem,” Jay shrugs, “It was only the decent thing to do.” 

“I’m glad I didn’t have potions today,” Jungwon laughs, “I’m dreadful even with my textbook, without it I would have been a total mess.”

Jay chuckles, and they both stall for a moment. Beside Jungwon, Sunoo clears his throat awkwardly.

“Well,” Jungwon says. He wants to keep talking but he has nothing else to say. 

Jay shifts on his feet and makes no move to leave, despite how stilted the air has just gotten.

“Well,” Jungwon repeats, “Thanks again for bringing it to me.”

“Yeah, I-” Jay hesitates, “It’s no problem.”

Jungwon nods, smiling, and Jay falters again, but finally speaks up.

“Uh, Jungwon?” He says, and Jungwon’s eyes flick back up to him. “Would you- I mean, would you want help with potions, sometime?” He rushes the words out, and lets out a breath once he’s done, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, um-” Jungwon says, too surprised to say anything else. His mind’s racing a mile a minute, cooking up a million different scenarios. Jay seems nervous- is it because he wants this to be a date? A study date? And then after the study date, maybe a real date, and after that-

“I mean, I’m not saying this to brag, but I have decent marks in potions, if you’re as dreadful at it as you say,” Jay chuckles half-heartedly, a not-quite-smile on his face as he waits for Jungwon’s answer. “And I know you’re pretty good at History of Magic, so I thought we might be able to help each other out. I mean- Niki told me that was your best class- he just mentioned it in passing… not like, I asked or anything.” Jay rambles.

Sunoo, who Jungwon had honestly forgotten was still standing there, takes pity and speaks up on Jungwon’s behalf, “He would love to,” He says.

Jungwon clears his throat, “Um, yeah,” a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. “I’d love to.”

His admission makes Jay visibly relax (Jungwon hadn’t realized how stiffly he was standing), and he lets out a breath. 

“Great,” Jay says, “Does tomorrow morning work for you? We’re supposed to have good weather again this weekend. We could meet out in the courtyard, before Quidditch?”

That sounds great but, “Wouldn’t you want to be getting ready for the match?” Jungwon asks.

“Oh, Slytherin isn’t playing this weekend,” Jay says, “It’s Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.”

“Oh,” Jungwon says, and he has the inexplicable need to prove to Jay _right now_ that he is actually a Quidditch _expert_ , even though they both know he isn’t, and it doesn’t even really matter.

Jay laughs Jungwon’s mistake off, “Maybe I could teach you a thing or two about Quidditch tomorrow, too,” He suggests.

“That might be a hopeless cause,” Sunoo pipes up, an amused grin on his face as he looks between the two of them.

Jay looks at Jungwon with a soft smile that makes Jungwon feel a little dizzy. “I’m willing to put in the effort,” He says, in that far too genuine, committed way of speaking that Jungwon is starting to learn Jay always has.

His genuity is comforting, and Jungwon might just let himself be convinced that this isn’t all his own rose-colored invention. Maybe, just maybe, his friends were right.

“Sounds like a plan,” Jungwon smiles, “See you tomorrow after breakfast?”

Jay nods, smiles wide, and then heads off towards the Slytherin table with his signature salute.

Sunoo doesn’t even say anything when they sit down, just looks at Jungwon with a big, cheesy grin on his face.

“ _Shut up_!” Jungwon says, and Sunoo laughs his way through the rest of dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! i hope you enjoyed!
> 
> im so excited to get further into this fic, and its honestly so much fun to write!! 
> 
> thanks for keeping me validated with your comments and kudos!! <3


	4. dueling club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! here's chapter 4 for you!
> 
> also this hit 100 kudos last chapter!! Woop woop! thanks for all of yall that read, comment, and leave kudos, it gives me so much motivation to write:'')
> 
> i hope you enjoy, happy reading!!

Heeseung’s posters must have done their job, because it seems as if at least half the school is in the great hall tonight, waiting for the first dueling club meeting to start. Professor Salamanca, their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and dueling club sponsor, stands to the side. With Heeseung and Sunghoon at the front of the room, it appears as though the meeting will be mostly student-led.

Jungwon and his friends(minus Heeseung and Sunghoon, of course), stand just below the raised platform at the front of the hall, as moral support. Heeseung turns to face the crowd and sets his shoulders, and they all give him encouraging thumbs up.

“If I could have everyone’s attention, please?” Heeseung says, and it's a testament to how excited the students are for the night to get going that they quiet fairly quickly, and it isn’t long before Heeseung has every eye in the room. 

“Great, thanks,” Heeseung says, and with one last reassuring glance at Sunghoon, the whole thing gets started.

With such a range of skill levels and students from all seven years in attendance, they start things off slowly by limiting 3rd years and under to nothing more than a disarming spell, and everyone else to nothing more than a stunning spell. 

Heeseung announces plans of a potential tournament in the future, or the possibility of separate meetings by year, based on the unexpectedly high turnout, but for tonight, they’re leaving it up to the students on how far to take things.

Professor Salamanca steps forward for a moment to explain the real logistics of a wizard's duel, and the safety precautions that have been taken- “Under no circumstances are you to use fire, explosives, or any of the Unforgivable Curses, nor are you to break any other laws. But we are here to have fun, and the infirmary has been alerted in advance, so anything else is fair game!”- and then she sets them loose to find partners and get dueling.

Jungwon’s friend groups’ partners are pretty much already decided, Sunoo and Niki pairing off quickly, while Jake and Jungwon wait for Sunghoon and Heeseung respectively. 

While Heeseung and Sunghoon clear a few things up with Professor Salamanca, Jungwon glances around at the magic that has begun to fill the room. 

It’s a little crowded, Heeseung’s plan to have everyone duel at once not really accounting for half the student population turning up. The pairs are making do though, spreading out as much as they can. 

Magic has always been a comforting thing for Jungwon, and even though it’s a duel and the spells can be dangerous, seeing the room fill up with pops, sparks and flashes of magic never fails to make him happy.

Jay is there too, though Jungwon is surprised to see he doesn’t immediately partner up. Everyone around him seems to pick their partners and leave him on his own. He looks sort of isolated for a moment, and it’s strange, because Jungwon’s image of Jay has always been the cool, outgoing Captain of the Quidditch team, but lately, Jungwon seems to keep catching him alone.

Jungwon stares for a little too long, and eventually, Jay looks his way, catching Jungwon’s eye. He sends a wave Jungwon’s way, but another 6th year Slytherin is quick to clasp Jay on the shoulder, and they partner up, the moment ending.

Jungwon’s perception of the magic booming around the room cranks back up to full volume, though he hadn’t really noticed it fading.

Heeseung pulls Jungwon over towards the raised platform, near where their other friends have settled, spread out just enough to avoid hitting each other directly. (Though they are all staying weary of any misplaced spells from another team.)

“I’ll go easy on you,” Heeseung teases, a smug grin on his face.

“Oh, that’s how it is?” Jungwon laughs, “I think _I’ll_ be the one going easy on _you_!”

They set up as much like a real duel as they can, though only taking 5 steps due to limited space, and then Jungwon is making the first move, sending a trusty “ _Expelliarmus!_ “ towards his friend.

Heeseung deflects the flash of red light easily, and then puts his game face on. 

“That all you got?” He goads, and then they’re off, trading spells as fast as they can block the next one.

They finish three ‘duels’, calling two in Heeseung’s favor, and the third a tie(though Jungwon thinks it really should’ve been his win) before it gets too tiring, and they take a break for some water.

“How was Charms today, really?” Heeseung asks, leaning back against the wall, “I mean, you said before dinner that Professor Kim had it out for you- is it that bad?”

“No, it’s not _that_ bad,” Jungwon deflects, “It’s just the little stuff, but it’s not so rough that I can’t put up with it. 

“Today he-” Jungwon sighs, and then finally decides to just tell Heeseung the whole story, because what’s the point in pretending it didn’t bother him? “He called on me to perform a spell in front of the class, for which I _didn’t_ raise my hand when he asked for a volunteer,” Jungwon explains, “And then when I couldn’t do it, he said it was obvious I hadn’t done the reading, and took points from Hufflepuff- even though I _did_ do the reading, and summoning spells are just hard for me. It was... really embarrassing.” 

Jungwon huffs out a breath once he’s done, and then pouts at Heeseung. 

Heeseung laughs at Jungwon’s expression, and then says genuinely, “Don’t you feel better now that you’ve complained?”

“A little, yeah.”

“Good,” Heeseung says, and then he steps over to wrap a comforting arm around Jungwon’s shoulders. “I’m sorry he always targets you- you’re one of the best students I know. You don’t deserve it, and I hope he loosens up.”

Jungwon smiles, “Thanks, Seung-ie.”

“No problem,” Heeseung says, glancing around them, “I also wanted to ask- your sister? How is she?”

“Getting by,” Jungwon sighs, though it’s nice to know that Heeseung has been thinking about her. “She hasn’t written again since Monday, but it’s only been a few months since… you know. I don’t blame her for needing time.”

Heeseung nods understandingly, “And you shouldn’t blame yourself for needing time either,” He says, “It’s a big betrayal of trust, especially coming from your parents. They turned on your sister, and it’s okay to be mad at them for that.”

“I know,” Jungwon hangs his head, “The angry part of me wants to stay at Hogwarts for winter break, so I won’t have to deal with them, but- they’re still my parents. Part of me just wants to go home and hug my mom.”

“Aw, Won-ie,” Heeseung coos, and then squeezes Jungwon into a bear hug. 

Jungwon laughs, pushing Heeseung’s arms away, “I thought this was dueling club,” He says, “How’d it turn into a heart-to-heart?”

Heeseung smiles, “It is dueling club, but I’m also your friend, and I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

“I am, really,” Jungwon says truthfully, “Thank you.”

“Now,” Jungwon switches the conversation around energetically, jumping back out into their dueling space, “En guard!” 

Saturday morning- the day of the study date. Jungwon’s not nervous- not at all. If he were nervous, would he have woken up an hour earlier than he needed to? Or re-done his hair three times? Would he be sitting on his bed in his dorm, doing nothing but anxiously waiting what was to come after breakfast? No way.

Jungwon waits until the other 5th year Hufflepuffs have left the boys dorm, and then he finally works up the courage to ask Sunoo for advice. Dating advice. Which he knows he is going to get teased about for days, but his nerves about the date (is it even a date?) outweigh the fear of annoying friends.

“Sunoo?” He says from his bed, Sunoo at his desk organizing his homework. 

“Yeah?” Sunoo says, focused on his papers, not even looking Jungwon’s way.

“Can you help me get ready for my study date with Jay?” 

Sunoo gasps, drops the book he’s holding, and turns slowly to face Jungwon. Jungwon takes back what he said about fear- the smile on Sunoo’s face is terrifying.

“Really?” Sunoo asks, and his excitement immediately makes Jungwon regret his decision.

“Yes, really,” He grumbles.

“What about? Your hair? Your outfit?”

“No, more like- what do I say? Is it even a date? I’ve never really… been on a date before,” Jungwon admits, and it comes out a little more pathetic than he would have liked.

“Aw!” Sunoo says, coming to sit next to Jungwon on the bed. 

“You might hate what I’m about to say, but it’s my honest advice,” Sunoo says, looking Jungwon in the eye, “Just be yourself.”

Jungwon rolls his eyes, and moves to get up, but Sunoo holds him down with a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m serious, Jungwon,” He says, “I know you don’t believe me, but I really think Jay has it bad for you. For you as you are!”

“Sunoo-”

“No, hear me out! He flirts whenever you two are together, but he’s also really awkward around you when you aren’t paying attention, and I saw him before he asked you to study the other day. He really had to work up the courage to ask, which means he was nervous, which means he _really_ likes you.

“I know you two haven’t spent much time together, and you don’t know him very well, so I know you must be worried about what you’ll have to talk about. But I’m serious- Jay wants to get to know you. He _wants_ to talk to you. Anytime you’ve carried on a conversation, it’s been him that instigates it, or keeps it going. He _likes_ you, Jungwon, so there’s nothing to be nervous about.”

Sunoo says it with such finality, such conviction, that Jungwon nearly takes it as fact.

Jungwon takes a deep breath, “Okay, I believe you. A little bit.”

“Good, you should,” Sunoo says with a nod, and then he stands and holds out his hand, “Come on, let’s go eat.”

After breakfast, Jungwon finds Jay waiting by the entrance to the great hall, leaning suavely back against the wall. All the nerves that Sunoo had managed to soothe pop quickly back up, and he nearly asks Sunoo to find him a way out of this- pretend he’s sick or something.

But Jay smiles when he sees the pair of them, and Jungwon takes a steadying breath- it’s going to be fine. And if it isn’t- well, then it isn’t. At least he will have tried.

Jungwon says bye to Sunoo, and then steps up to Jay, clutching at the strap on his shoulder bag.

“Hey!” Jungwon says, as brightly as he can, and Jay straightens up from the wall, shifting on his feet.

“Hey, Jungwon!” Jay greets, adjusting his jacket, “Still want to go out to the courtyard?”

Jungwon nods, and they start heading that way, falling into step beside each other.

“How was breakfast?” Jay asks.

“Oh, you know. As good as usual,” Jungwon says, “You?”

“Same,” Jay says, clearing his throat.

“Yeah,” Jungwon says, for some reason, and all the sudden it’s as awkward as he was dreading it would be.

They stay nervously quiet the rest of the way to the courtyard, until Jay points at a shady spot under a tree, “Over there look good?”

“Sure,” Jungwon says, “Weather’s great today.”

“Yeah, it’ll be nice for Quidditch this afternoon.”

Jungwon hums in agreement, but mentally, he’s screaming. They’re talking about the _weather_? Is he trying to break the record for most boring conversation ever?

Jungwon desperately thinks about something to say. Studying? They’re here to study- maybe that’s a good place to start?

“So,” Jungwon says, as they settle down in the grass, “How good are you at potions?”

Jay shrugs, “Half-way to decent. But, you said you were ‘dreadful’, so I figured I’d still be able to help.”

“Probably,” Jungwon laughs at himself, “I don’t have the worst marks in class, but…”

“If that’s how you’re starting the sentence, then I think I have an idea of where you land,” Jay chuckles, setting his bag to the side and focusing on Jungwon.

“Hey,” Jungwon notices something tucked inside Jay’s bag, “What’s that keychain?”

Jay blushes so quickly it’s like someone cast a color-changing charm on his face. “Oh, nothing,” He says, and in an effort to hide it further, he accidentally moves his bag just where Jungwon needs it to be.

“Oh my god!” Jungwon says, “Is that from _Space Warlock_?” 

Jay groans, giving up and letting the keychain hang out of his bag, “Yeah.”

“That’s awesome!” Jungwon says, and Jay’s eyes dart up to meet his. Before he can think better of it, Jungwon blurts, “You’re a total dork!”

“No, I’m not, I-” Jay rushes to say.

“No, no, Jay,” Jungwon cuts him off with a smile, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said it like that. But I mean it as a good thing! A great thing! I bet you have all the books at home, don’t you?”

Jay groans, hanging his head, “They’re in my trunk, actually,” he admits, “In my dorm- it’s a guilty pleasure.” 

“I feel like I just learned so much about you!” Jungwon says gleefully, laughing, “Who’s your favorite character?”

Jay fiddles with his keychain, a likeness of the main character ‘Iland’, who captains the wizard spaceship in the series, and turns it to face Jungwon. 

“We have our heading, crew! Those Dark Aliens don’t stand a chance!” He says in a gravelly voice, imitating the character and sending Jungwon into a fresh wave of laughter. There’s something so comforting in knowing that Jay harbors a secret love for a wizarding sci-fi series. 

Suddenly, Jay doesn’t feel like a stupid crush on an untouchable Quidditch Captain anymore- he feels like a friend that fills your stomach with warm butterflies and makes you laugh.

“That was a terrible impression,” Jungwon teases, eyes crinkling with the size of his smile.

“I need to know something about you, then, to make it fair!” Jay insists, “Something super juicy and embarrassing.”

“You liking _Space Warlock_ isn’t embarrassing, it’s endearing,” Jungwon says genuinely, but Jay just gives him a look. 

“Alright, alright,” Jungwon chuckles, and then scratches at his chin, “Let’s see, what’s embarrassing?” Jungwon racks his brain for something secret enough to match Jay’s, but not so personal that he runs Jay off (though he’s learning that Jay’s not that type of person). 

“I kind of know nothing about playing Quidditch,” He finally settles on.

Jay scoffs, “That doesn’t count, I already knew that! And it’s not embarrassing- loads of people don’t know how to play Quidditch.”

Jungwon smiles shyly, “No, but- I’ve never even been on a broom.”

“What?” Jay frowns, sitting up straight and folding his legs criss-cross applesauce. “Didn’t you have to take Flying first year?”

“I opted out.”

“I didn’t even know you could do that,” Jay says, leaning forward to rest his head on his hands, arm propped on his knee. (It’s not quite fair how attractive Jungwon finds Jay when he’s literally just _sitting_. Jungwon needs to get it together.)

“You can when you have a note from your parents about a chronic illness,” Jungwon explains.

Jay looks up, meeting Jungwon’s eyes, “You’re sick?”

Jungwon might swear that that was genuine concern on Jay’s face, so he clears it up quickly and says, “Nope! I just needed an excuse.”

Jay’s face relaxes, and he laughs, “Ah, alright.” 

“Well,” Jay says, a charming smirk growing on his face, “You’ve never been on a broom- that is easily remedied!”

Jungwon huffs, “Oh, absolutely not.”

“You don’t trust me?” Jay says in mock offense, gesturing towards himself, “I’m a Quidditch _expert_! You’d be totally safe.”

“I’ve gone this long without getting on a broom,” Jungwon says, “I think I’d like to keep the streak going.”

“I’ll convince you somehow,” Jay grins. “Later though. Now that we’ve shared our darkest secrets, I did intend to get some studying done.” He gestures towards Jungwon’s unopened bookbag.

A content feeling pools in Jungwon’s stomach as he realizes how easily he and Jay were able to slip out of ‘awkward’. Maybe… maybe this could be something.

“Alright, potions master,” Jungwon says, unzipping his bag and handing over his textbook, “Show me what you can do.”

“Samantha Carterleine,” Jungwon shoots the name at Jay a few hours later, quizzing him for a test he has next week on the 2nd Wizarding War.

Jay thinks for a minute, and then counts off points on his fingers. “Voldemort’s inner circle, and she dealt with the… acromantulas.”

“Yep, and who’s Bonhwa Kim?” 

“Uh, also inner circle, part of the ministry infiltration team. Nicknamed ‘Python’ because of his patronus.”

“And Julian Ornelas?”

“Death Eater that deserted, died before he could help the other side. Nicknamed ‘Jo’, for his initials.”

“Are the nicknames that important?” Jungwon asks, dropping the heavy textbook onto his lap.

“Helps me remember them,” Jay explains from where he’s lying down in the grass, hands folded over his stomach. 

Jungwon hums, shutting the book with a loud thunk. “I don’t know if I can take anymore Death Eaters right now,” He says, setting the book aside and turning to lie down a little ways from Jay.

Jay turns his head to look at Jungwon, “It should be about lunch time by now. Want to grab a bite and then head to the Quidditch pitch for the game? We could watch together, if- if you’d like?”

Jungwon smiles, turning to meet Jay’s eyes, “Yeah, I’d like that.”

”Do you want a nickname?” Jay asks curiously, as they gather their books together.

”What nickname would you give me?”

”Not sure- I’ll have to think about it.”

”Well,” Jungwon says, slinging his bookbag over his shoulder, “We’ll just have to hang out again, so you can make an informed decision. Nicknames are very important, after all.”

Jay nods his head seriously, “Super important. It may take me a while- we’ll probably have to hang out a bunch of times.”

Jungwon smiles, “Sounds good to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for reading, I hope you liked it!
> 
> in my outline there are currently 8 chapters, so we're like, half-way there? how did that happen?
> 
> also, i cannot tell you how excited i was to get to the point in the story where they were close enough for jungwon to realize jay is not as cool as he thinks he is, and for jungwon to get comfortable enough to start teasing him!! and this is just a taste.. get ready for more of jay embarrassing himself and jungwon making fun of him for it (in a loving way)
> 
> anyway, thanks again for reading! be back in a few days with ch 5:D


	5. happy memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 1000 hits let’s go!!! Maybe it’s just bc there are so few jaywon fics out there, but the response to this one has been amazing so thank yall:’)
> 
> Anyway, on w chapter 5!

After that, time keeps passing. Jungwon keeps going to class, keeps dreading Wednesday and Friday mornings in Charms. He keeps losing points, and keeps getting in trouble for stupid reasons. He keeps writing to his sister, keeps worrying about her, keeps ignoring his parents’ letters.

But, he also keeps talking to Jay. They keep studying together, at least once a week(though each time they study a little less and talk a little more.) Jay passes him in the hall once and waves, and then keeps waving, or winking, or calling out a greeting every time they see each other.

And his friends keep being good friends, as always. They keep having fun after class, and they keep helping each other out when it counts. Of course, they also keep teasing him about Jay, but he finds he doesn’t care so much anymore.

So, yeah, his family has some problems, and Professor Kim is still doing his best to ruin Jungwon’s record, but Hogwarts? It keeps being home.

It’s a few weeks later, well into October, when Jungwon finds himself anticipating Charms for the first time this year.

He’s not the only one, either. All the 5th year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins are buzzing through breakfast, spurred by what the Ravenclaw’s and Gryffindor’s tell them of what they did in class the day before. 

Jungwon hears the news from Sunoo, who heard it from Taehyun, a 5th year Gryffindor: they’re going to start Patronus charms.

After days and days of nothing but reading and magical theory, they’re finally putting it to use. Patronus charms are one of the most exciting things they’re going to learn in charms this year. They’re not likely to ever meet a dementor, but patronuses are useful for sending quick messages, too, and honestly, Jungwon is just really curious about what form his and Sunoo’s will take.

If Professor Kim notices the class’s unusually rapt attention or perfect attendance, he doesn’t say anything, just droning on with class as usual. (Really, Jungwon thinks as Professor Kim starts on the theory behind the spell, _how_ is he already making patronuses boring?

Finally, _finally_ , Professor Kim turns from the chalkboard, and tells them he’s going to demonstrate. Jungwon finds Sunoo’s eyes from across the classroom, and they smile at each other excitedly.

Professor Kim flicks his wand, says “ _Expecto Patronum_!”, and a great big burst of bright blue magic fills the room, followed by the misty form of a huge snake, which sparkles and hisses as it slithers through the air, curling around students and desks.

Jungwon sincerely hopes the novelty of magic never wears off. Even though he grew up surrounded by magic- even after 5 years of intensive study- starting new spells still gets him excited.

Jungwon is itching to try the spell himself, but Professor Kim continues teaching(like it’s his job or something), and it feels like hours before he’s finally letting them loose to try it on their own.

He tells them to spread out and try the spell all at once, as there’s nothing really dangerous about the charm. Jungwon hurries across the room to stand next to Sunoo, who’s already trying out the spell.

“What do you think it’ll be, for me?” Jungwon asks, smiling and pulling out his wand.

Sunoo looks at him and snorts, “A rat.”

“Ha-ha,” Jungwon rolls his eyes, “Sure you aren’t thinking about yourself?”

But Sunoo stops paying attention after that, his wand spitting out a blue mist as he says the spell, “I’m getting closer!”

The whole class seems to be at the same level, all producing oodles of bright blue magic, but no corporeal forms.

Jungwon takes a breath, and focuses, trying the spell for the first time.

A happy memory- he needs a happy memory. Well- Hogwarts. Nearly everything about Hogwarts is happy.

Jungwon smiles, content with what he’s chosen to focus on, and says “ _Expecto Patronum_!”

The magic surprises him as it bursts from his wand, with more force than the others around him are getting. He’s astonished to see a central spark- the beginning of a corporeal form.

Maybe his memory needs to be more specific? Ah- getting his Hogwarts letter- or, no- stepping foot into Hogwarts for the first time!

He tries again, and the spark is a little stronger, but still not enough.

What else? Jungwon racks his brain. Maybe it needs to be more emotional? Maybe-

Then it hits him- just a few months ago, on the train to Hogwarts this year. The first day of his 5th year, and also the day his parents decided they could no longer support his sister. The day his whole world view changed- but also the day he realized just how amazing his friends were.

Getting on the train that day had been torture, Jungwon feeling so conflicted and guilty for leaving his sister behind. He still found his compartment with his friends, still greeted them like usual, but it didn’t take long for them to realize everything wasn’t alright. 

Jungwon hadn’t even told them what was wrong, still hadn’t, except Heeseung, but they comforted him with all they had regardless. Despite it being the first day of a new semester, a day that was supposed to be all about the new year and the new classes, his friends dropped everything to make sure Jungwon was alright.

He remembers Heeseung and Sunghoon on either side of him, hugging him tight. He remembers Sunoo boosting his mood with just the right words, and Jake gently wiping tears from his face. He remembers Niki using his own pocket money to buy him a chocolate frog from the candy cart, handing it over shyly and saying, “It’ll be okay, Won-ie.”

That’s the memory. Jungwon knows it is. It had been a terrible day, but if he focuses on the right moment, on his friends, all he feels is overwhelming love.

Jungwon flicks his wand, “ _Expecto Patronum_!”

One by one, the rest of the class stops to look at him, as Jungwon’s patronus leaps across desks and through the air. No one else has gotten a corporeal form yet- Jungwon is the first.

_He did it._

Jungwon’s patronus, as he looks at it in awe, is a cat- small, but sleek and agile, jumping around the class, climbing the bookshelf and bounding over and around the other students.

Eventually, Jungwon lets the spell break, and the other students go back to practicing, even more determined.

From beside him, Sunoo laughs, “Wow, Jungwon! You did it so fast!”

“Yes,” Professor Kim says, suddenly right next to them, surprising Jungwon. “A little too fast. I think it’s clear that you were practicing on your own, which I specifically said not to.”

Jungwon is a little taken aback, “Uh, no, sir, I didn’t practice. I promise!”

Professor Kim raises one eyebrow, “Based on your previous poor work in my class, I find it hard to believe that you would successfully produce a full patronus on your third attempt.” Jungwon glances at Sunoo, confused.

“Therefore,” Professor Kim continues, placing his hand on Jungwon’s shoulder, grip uncomfortably tight. “I have no choice but to assume you practiced on your own, and broke the rules. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that’s a detention, Mr. Yang. This Saturday, my office.”

“But sir-” Sunoo says, but Professor Kim cuts him off.

“See you then, Mr. Yang,” and then he walks away, ignoring Sunoo’s protests.

Jungwon drops his eyes to the ground, his heart pounding. 

“This is bullshit!” Sunoo whispers angrily, glaring at Professor Kim’s back. “He has no proof of anything! He can’t just- I mean- bullshit! You have to go to another teacher, tell them what happened, and they can get you out of it!” 

“Sunoo,” Jungwon says quietly.

“No, you have to!” Sunoo says, determined, “If you don’t, I will. You did the spell right, it’s absolutely ridiculous that he would-”

“Sunoo,” Jungwon cuts him off, “Am I really that bad?”

“There’s no way he’s allowed to- Wait, what?” Sunoo huffs, looking at Jungwon.

“Am I so bad at Charms that it’s suspicious when I do it right? I mean, he’s kind of right, isn’t he? I never do anything on the first try.”

Sunoo’s mouth drops open, “Jungwon, _no!_ I- you-” Sunoo scrambles for words, and then takes a deep breath, putting his hand on Jungwon’s shoulder. The contact helps, grounding him. It’s a much different feeling than the weight of Professor Kim’s overbearing hold, which had sucked all of Jungwon’s energy away- like the professor’s disappointment was draining Jungwon of his anger.

“Jungwon, did you practice the charm on your own before class? Before we were supposed to?”

Jungwon shakes his head, unsure why his brain feels so foggy all the sudden- why he feels so tired.

“No, you didn’t,” Sunoo says, “And you still did it on your third try. That was all you! And so what if you didn’t get the other spells at first- you got them eventually! And you got top marks on your Charms exam last year!”

Jungwon nods, Sunoo’s words starting to have their intended effect. Jungwon focuses back on Sunoo in front of him, focuses on the comforting grip of Sunoo’s hand on his shoulder.

“And all of that doesn’t matter anyway,” Sunoo insists, “Professor Kim has no reason to give you detention. He’s a snake, just like his patronus.”

Jungwon takes a deep breath, regaining strength, and he looks Sunoo in the eye with conviction.

“You’re right,” He says, “I’ll talk to another teacher. They’ll- they’ll understand.”

“Good,” Sunoo says, “We’ll go straight after class.”

Sunoo ends up being right, and all he has to do is explain what happened to Professor Salamanca. She immediately assures Jungwon that he does not have detention, and that she will talk to Professor Kim about it. 

It’s like a weight off his back, realizing he won’t have a detention on his record, and more importantly, he won’t have to spend four hours alone with Professor Kim, which inexplicably scares him more than he would expect it to.

He forces himself to forget about all that, and focus on how excited he was this morning before class, and how exciting it is to have really been the first in the class to produce a full patronus.

Sunoo gushes about him to the rest of the group when they meet up for the mid-morning break, the lot of them walking to the courtyard. 

“It was awesome, he did it so fast!” Sunoo says. 

Jungwon had asked Sunoo not to mention the detention to the others, and gratefully, he doesn’t. He’ll tell them eventually, but right now he just wants to focus on the positive.

“What form did it take?” Niki asks excitedly, now the only one of the six of them to have not done the spell- Sunoo having successfully found his patronus’s form near the end of class.

“Mine’s a fox,” Sunoo says, smiling bright, “Jungwon’s is a cat.”

“A fox!” Niki says, “That’s cool!”

“Certainly cooler than a penguin,” Sunghoon grumbles, and Jungwon isn’t sure Sunghoon is ever going to get over his patronus.

“I love your penguin!” Sunoo says, “It’s so cute!”

“What’s yours, Jake?” Niki asks.

“A golden retriever,” Sunghoon answers bitterly, “Cute, and energetic, and it fits him perfectly.”

“I thought you liked my patronus?” Jake frowns.

Sunghoon perks up, “No, no, I do! I’m sorry, I’m just bitter about my own.”

“I like it, if that helps,” Jake says with such an earnest expression that Jungwon watches Sunghoon practically melt.

“It does,” He says, smiling and throwing an arm over Jake’s shoulders.

“Mine’s a reindeer,” Heeseung offers, and Niki looks his way.

“Wait, really? That’s so cool!” Niki complements.

Next to Jungwon, Sunoo pouts, “Foxes are cooler though, right Niki?”

Niki turns to Sunoo and laughs when he sees his expression, “Yes, Ddunoo, foxes are way cooler. I love foxes.”

Niki gets a kiss full on the lips for his compliment, and the group laughs at his expression when Sunoo pulls away- it’s somewhere between awe, embarrassment, and smugness.

“Hey, Jungwon!” A voice suddenly calls from behind them, and it brings a smile to Jungwon’s face. It’s a voice he’s getting better at recognizing.

“Jay!” He says happily, and Jay catches up to the group, wrapping his arms around Jungwon from behind, and a bubble of warmth bursts in Jungwon’s chest. They stumble a little bit, trying to walk along with the group.

Jay pulls his arms away after a moment, falling into step beside Jungwon instead. “Can I talk to you for a second?” He asks. 

Jungwon sees the tell-tale scrunch of Jay’s eyebrows, and he’s secretly happy when he realizes Jay is nervous. That usually means he’s about to ask Jungwon to hang out. (Jungwon feels a little giddy that he has learned some of Jay’s habits. Every now and then it hits him that he’s actually close with his long-time crush.)

“Sure!” Jungwon says, and then to his friends, “Meet you guys in the courtyard!”

“See you!” Sunoo responds, not so subtly wiggling his eyebrows towards Jungwon.

Jungwon chuckles, shaking his head. 

“So, what’s up?” Jungwon asks, Jay pulling him over to the wall so they don’t block the hall.

Jay smiles big, “I have an idea.”

“Uh oh,” Jungwon laughs, “Why does this sound suspicious?”

“Well,” Jay admits, “It’s kind of, like, _really_ against the rules.”

“Jay…” Jungwon says, dropping his head, “Seriously, I almost got detention today- I can’t just break rules all over the place.”

“No, but,” Jay says, “This would be so worth it! And we just have to not get caught! Which isn’t that hard, because I’ve done this before.”

Jungwon sighs, but makes the mistake of catching Jay’s eye. He looks so hopeful, and Jungwon is really just a soft, weak boy.

“What even is ‘this’?” He asks, and Jay pumps his fist in the air, realizing that Jungwon is giving in.

“You’ll see,” He says mysteriously, “Just meet me on the Quidditch pitch at midnight!” 

“Wha- Jay! Why?” Jungwon protests, but Jay is already starting to walk away.

“You’ll see! Don’t worry about it- I’m Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team! It’ll be fine!”

“Jay!” Jungwon laughs, exasperated as Jay walks down the hall with a pep in his step.

“Meet me there!” He points at Jungwon, and then turns around the corner with one last smile.

Jungwon huffs, but he can’t lie- he’s excited. He really shouldn’t go- he just freaked out less than an hour ago about getting detention, and sneaking out after hours is a near sure-fire way to get in trouble. But… something about Jay makes him want to be adventurous.

Jungwon smiles to himself, and runs off to catch up with his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Get ready for a jaywon midnight date and rule breaking next chapter !
> 
> Also I promise there’s a reason for all the scenes, and prof k isn’t mean just to cause unnecessary conflict... I have a plan, trust me!
> 
> Anyway, thanks again for reading, see you again in a few days!!


	6. first time flyer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y’all... prepare yourselves for nearly 4k words of the most cheesy, tooth rotting thing I have ever written

After dinner, as Jungwon and Sunoo climb the stairs back to the Hufflepuff dorms, Jay’s owl flies up to Jungwon. It lands on a nearby railing, holding a small, folded up note in its grasp. Jungwon’s heart jolts a little bit as he recognizes the owl, and he hurries to grab and unfold the paper.

_Midnight. The statue by the west corridor on the 2nd floor. Dress warm.  
J :)_

Jungwon’s stomach swoops again, and he folds the paper quickly, shoving it in his pocket before Sunoo can get snoopy and try to read it.

Is he really going to do this?

Sunoo and the others go to bed around 10:30 (or at least close the curtains around their four-posters), and Jungwon’s mind is miles away as he says good night.

His cloak is draped over his desk chair, alongside some thick socks, just in case he decides to meet up with Jay. 

But he probably won’t.

He’ll feel terrible, of course, to bail on Jay, and if he really isn’t going, he should at least send Jay a note. He would hate for Jay to wait on him.

Jungwon grabs for a quill and ink, but falters. 

Maybe there’s a tiny part of him that wants to. Wants to see Jay, and wants to break the rules. 

Maybe… maybe it’s worth getting a detention for.

He sets down the quill.

By the time the Hogwarts bell tower strikes 11:30 that night, Jungwon has still not made up his mind. He sits in bed, wide awake, the moonlight from the window falling straight on the door, taunting him.

The door is right there. All he has to do is open it. 

He’d put his socks on in a moment of determination that he was going to get over himself and just go already- but his shoes and cloak still sit near his desk, as he thought, once again, about the consequences.

This is so unlike him- to be so indecisive.

It’s just… Jungwon doesn’t break the rules often. He’s a prefect, for goodness sake; he’s supposed to set a good example.

But it starts to hit him, at 11:30 that night in his dorm, that Jungwon might one day look back on his Hogwarts days with regret. 

When he looks back on his first, second, even third year of Hogwarts, he doesn’t remember all the times he _didn’t_ lose points, or even all the times he _gained_ points- in fact, he doesn’t remember the points at all.

He remembers first year, meeting Sunoo on the train, shyly introducing themselves and then being elated to both be sorted into Hufflepuff. He remembers the time when he and Sunoo skipped class to literally just eat candy (as was their priority as eleven year olds), and how exciting it had been, how giggly and elated they had felt to sneak back to the dorms in the middle of the day.

He remembers second year, when they finally became friends with Heeseung, Sunghoon, and Jake, getting caught by the librarian for trying to practice advanced spells. He remembers Heeseung not hesitating to take the blame, and then saying, “What’s one detention to save my friends?” lumping Sunoo and Jungwon into the mix too.

He remembers third year, when Jake caught a bad flu, and Jungwon and his friends snuck into the infirmary after hours to keep him company.

He remembers helping Sunoo sneak into the Slytherin common room in fourth year, when he and Niki first started dating.

And he remembers the train ride to Hogwarts this year, when he realized just how much his friends meant to him.

He doesn’t remember the stupid house points- not even a little. As cheesy as it is, what he remembers are the moments, the experiences, and the friendships. 

When he’s 20, 30, 40 years old, he won’t look back fondly on the time he stuck to the rules and turned Jay down, he would look back and wish he had gone. Or, he might not even remember this night at all.

But if he goes, if he sneaks out to the Quidditch pitch, if he sees Jay for the first time without the premise of studying- that he’ll remember. And if he remembers it with the addition of a detention, then, so what? Detention’s detention, not the end of the world.

So, Jungwon thinks, how does he want to remember?

Jungwon stands and swings his cloak around his shoulders.

Jungwon has no trouble with teachers on the way, but he has his prefect’s badge pinned proudly on his chest, if he should need an excuse. He spots Jay just where he said he would be, leaning back against a wall in the shadows of the second floor, unnoticeable if a professor were to walk by on patrol.

Jay smiles when he sees Jungwon, letting out a breath and relaxing his arms from where they had been stiffly crossed in front of his chest.

“Jungwon-ie,” He says, eyes bright in the darkened, quiet hallways of the school, “You made it!”

“Hey, Jay!” Jungwon greets quietly, but with a genuine smile, “Are you going to finally tell me why I’m meeting you here at midnight?”

Jay smirks, “Nope! Still a secret!” He reaches over to grab Jungwon’s hand, “Now, follow me, and be sneaky about it.”

Jungwon rolls his eyes, but his hand tingles in Jay’s grip, and he lets Jay pull him down the hall without protest.

Jay takes him down the west corridor to a somewhat hidden staircase that twists around so much that Jungwon isn’t even sure if they’re going up or down. Finally, they reach a door, and Jay stops and holds his hand up seriously, like he’s in a spy movie, and the fate of the world rests on their secret mission.

Jungwon bumps into Jay’s back at the sudden stop, and then snorts at Jay’s expression.

“Jay-ah,” He laughs, “What are you doing?”

“Have to make sure the exit-route is secure,” He says, and then turns to Jungwon with his eyebrows furrowed in playful seriousness. He folds his fingers into the shape of a gun, pointer fingers out like the barrel, and brings his hands up close to his face.

“Stay here,” He says, “I’ll protect you!”

Jungwon just laughs again, “You watch too many muggle movies.”

Jay leans close to the door, first with his ear, and then when he doesn’t hear anything, he eases it open and glances into the hallway outside.

“Okay, looks like we’re-” Jay says, but then he’s yelping out a sound Jungwon’s never even heard before, and reeling back to shut the door.

“What?” Jungwon asks, worried they’ve been caught by a teacher, “Who was it?”

Jay looks white as a sheet, and Jungwon is starting to get seriously nervous when he finally says, “There’s a ghost.”

Jungwon relaxes all at once, “A ghost, Jay-ah? Really?”

“What?” Jay defends, pointing a finger at the door, “Ghosts are scary when they suddenly pop out of walls!”

“You go to Hogwarts! You’re a wizard! How are you afraid of _ghosts_?”

Jay huffs, and forces himself to stand up straight, trying to look brave, but Jungwon sees right through it. “I’m not _afraid_ of them,” He insists, “It just surprised me! I was worried we were going to get caught!”

Jungwon snickers, “You’re totally afraid of ghosts.”

Jay huffs again, and Jungwon would almost say he was pouting, “Well, I was raised by muggles!” Jay says, “Real ghosts were a bit of a shock the first time I saw one.”

“Okay,” Jungwon says, “I’ll give you that. But it’s been six years now- you aren’t used to them yet?”

Jay gives him a look, and this time, it’s _definitely_ a pout, “Fine. I’m afraid of ghosts.” 

It looks like it physically pains Jay to say it, and his pout is admittedly far cuter than Jungwon expected to be, so Jungwon decides to let it go.

“I’m just teasing you, Jay-ah,” Jungwon says, taking Jay’s hand in his again.

Jay doesn’t respond, just tightens his grip on Jungwon’s hand and cracks the door open again, to check if the ghost has left yet, but Jungwon doesn’t miss the blush on his face.

(It’s surprising, how easily Jay blushes. Jungwon, and anyone on the outside looking in on their relationship, would assume the opposite- cool, collected, Slytherin Captain Jay would be the confident one that left Jungwon, the younger, sweeter Hufflepuff, a blushing mess, but so far, it’s been quite the opposite. 

If it wasn’t for Jay’s skill on the Quidditch pitch, Jungwon would wonder how Jay’s reputation came about in the first place. He wasn’t at all what people expected of him.)

Jungwon speaks again once the coast is clear, and they are headed down the open-air corridor that leads out to the Hogwarts grounds, “I didn’t know you were muggle-born,” He says.

“I’m not,” Jay says, distracted, double-checking that there is no one around them before they walk out onto the open grass, “My parents were both wizards- I was just raised by muggles.”

By the way Jay gets the words out quickly, and ducks his head as he speaks, Jungwon senses there is more to that story, but he finds it better to leave that for another day.

They are able to relax a little as they get further away from Hogwarts, hidden by the rolling hills, and Jungwon brings his voice back up to a more normal volume.

“We did patronuses in Charms today,” Jungwon shares, his and Jay’s clasped hands still swinging between them, “Mine was a cat.”

Jay looks over with a smile, his cheeks crinkling up, “I know,” he says, “Heeseung told me. He also said you were the first one in your class to do it. That’s amazing, Won-ie!”

Jay looks proud, and Jungwon is shocked to realize it’s on his behalf. Jungwon is so annoyed when he feels his cheeks warming up, feeling bashful at the praise. 

For all his confidence at teasing Jay earlier, Jungwon is no match for Jay’s devastatingly genuine compliments.

“Yeah, it’s not that big a deal,” Jungwon ducks his head.

Jay squeezes Jungwon’s hand, “I also heard through the grapevine that Professor Kim tried to give you a detention for a stupid reason,” Jay says, “And Sunoo might’ve also let it slip that he’s been picking on you all semester.”

Jungwon groans, pointing a finger at Jay, “You are not allowed to talk to Sunoo anymore.”

“I’m glad he told me- it’s not like you were going to,” Jay smiles warmly, and says in a completely serious tone, “You want me to hex him for you?”

“Wha- hex him? Jay, you can’t hex a teacher!” Jungwon laughs, “Thank you for trying to help, but I can deal with him on my own.”

“Okay,” Jay cedes, “And, hey, I know you’re risking a lot by sneaking out with me, being a prefect and all. And I know you don’t normally break rules, but I’m glad you are here.”

“I wanted to come,” Jungwon says simply.

“Good,” Jay laughs, “I wouldn’t want to be corrupting an innocent Hufflepuff.”

“You’re not,” Jungwon assures, “Being made a prefect this year... I was turning into a little bit of a stick in the mud. You aren’t corrupting- just reminding me that it’s okay to have fun.”

Jay nods, “You were a little bit boring…” He says, a grin on his face.

“Hey!” Jungwon laughs, bumping Jay with his shoulder, “I could just go back inside, if you want me to be boring.”

“No, no,” Jay says, “I’m just teasing.”

“By the way,” Jungwon asks, as they crest a hill to see the Quidditch pitch, “What’s your patronus?”

“Mine? An eagle.”

“An eagle?” Jungwon nods appreciatively, humming, “That makes sense,” he says, “You’re like an eagle when you play Quidditch.”

Jay laughs, “How so?”

“Flying high, sharp focus,” Jungwon lists, “You keep your eye on everyone, picking up on the small details, and helping them be better. Just like what a leader, a Captain, should do.”

“Okay, I get it,” Jay grumbles, ducking his head.

“Seriously,” Jungwon laughs as Jay’s sudden shyness, “I noticed when Sunoo and I came to that practice a couple weeks ago- you were looking out for everyone else, seeing the big picture. You’re a big part of why Slytherin has done so well in the tournament this year.”

“Jungwon!” Jay pouts again.

“I’m just calling it like it is,” Jungwon says, expression soft, trying to convey to Jay just how serious he’s being, how much he means what he’s saying.

Jay looks back at him again, a small smile replacing the blush. 

“You paid that close attention to me?” He asks, “Careful, someone might think you have a crush,” Jay says, nudging Jungwon’s shoulder with his own.

“Hey,” Jungwon counters, “You’re the one that got hit with the quaffle because you were too busy winking at me.”

“Yikes, I was hoping you wouldn’t have noticed that.”

“I always notice you,” Jungwon admits.

“Me too,” Jay says softly, eyes locked on Jungwon’s, “I always notice you, too.”

Suddenly, Jungwon realizes exactly where he is, exactly what he’s doing right now. Suddenly, he and Jay are friends, nearly more than friends, and suddenly- Jungwon realizes that things with Jay aren’t so sudden. 

If you had told Jungwon at the beginning of the school year, that in two months he would be sneaking out for a midnight date with Captain Jay Park, he would think it came out of nowhere, but really, things with Jay haven’t been sudden at all.

Here, standing with Jay in the chilly October air, with nothing but the moon and stars to light their way, he feels as though they’ve been building towards this for years. As if this is the moment he didn’t know he was waiting for.

Maybe it’s just the late hour making him romantic. Maybe it’s just the moon’s magic, but Jungwon feels as though this moment is never going to end.

Their faces are close, closer than they had been a moment ago, and Jungwon realizes they’ve stopped walking. They don’t kiss, but it’s enough. It’s right, for them, just to be with each other. They hold each other's gazes for a moment, and Jungwon doesn’t know how, but he is 100% sure that Jay feels the same.

It doesn’t feel awkward, after that, though a small part of Jungwon worried it would. They fall straight back into friendly teasing and jokes, but it’s natural, as if being so honest was the only way they could be comfortable. 

Jungwon realizes he still doesn’t know exactly why Jay brought him out here, and when they get close enough to the Quidditch pitch, Jay tells Jungwon to close his eyes, so he doesn’t ruin the surprise.

Jungwon puts his trust in Jay, covering his eyes with his hand and letting the other guide him with a gentle arm on his shoulders. Soon enough, they’re coming to a stop, and Jay is practically buzzing next to Jungwon.

“Don’t open your eyes yet,” He says, stepping away for a second, and Jungwon hears a door open.

“Now,” Jay says, “I know what you’re going to think, but just give it the benefit of the doubt, okay?”

“Jay…” Jungwon says, not liking where this is going in the slightest. On the Quidditch pitch, something he wouldn’t want… oh, man- Jay’s totally going to make him-

“Please,” Jay says, “For me?”

And damn, Jay’s got him there.

“Can I open my eyes?” Jungwon asks, as if he doesn’t know exactly where he is.

“Go for it,” Jay says, “Just remember, keep an open mind!”

Jungwon pulls his hand down, cracking his eyes open and- yep, there it is. The broom shed.

Jay’s going to teach him how to fly.

“Jay-ah!” Jungwon whines again, “I told you I didn’t want to!” But the protest sounds weak even to Jungwon’s ears.

“Come on, Won-ie,” Jay reasons, grabbing Jungwon’s hand and pulling him towards the broom shed, “You have to fly at some point in your life. I’ll be with you, and we’ll stay low, below the height of the stands.”

Jungwon takes a deep breath. He was looking for a night to remember… flying for the first time would certainly be that.

He looks at Jay, hesitates just a moment, and then says, “Okay.”

Jay whoops loud enough to get them caught, and Jungwon laughs, shushing him. 

“Okay,” Jay starts, and Jungwon watches his face start to practically glow, “So, the WonderSweep 25 is the best broom the school has for beginners, and once you get used to that, if you’re comfortable, we can try my own broom, the Jupiter 2050. It’s a little faster, but it’s stable- designed for Keepers.”

Jungwon finds himself smiling without even realizing it. Jay’s passion is just irresistibly contagious. Jungwon isn’t even that nervous anymore- the thought of a broom or the height isn’t making his stomach turn, because Jay’s right there, so it’s all going to be okay.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Jay says, golden smile still brightening his face, “But you’ve got a Seeker’s build, so if you ever wanted your own broom, I would go for the Lightning Flash. It’s a relatively old model, good for a newbie, but still aerodynamic and good for quick, precise Seeker maneuvers.”

As much as Jungwon could sit here and listen to Jay wax poetic about brooms until the sun comes up, he also has a feeling that Jay could _literally wax poetic until the sun comes up_. As cautious as he was, Jungwon has come around now, and he would like to try flying tonight, please.

“Jay,” He interrupts, “That all sounds amazing, but maybe I should try just flying, for now?”

Jay immediately looks sheepish, “Yeah, yeah, sorry, I get a little too... excited, about Quidditch sometimes.”

“No, I love it!” Jungwon assures, mad at himself for making Jay’s face fall like that, “I love how much you love it, you’ve just got me excited, too, and I really want to fly.”

Jay smiles, “Sure! Like I said, you should go for the WonderSweep 25.” Jay steps into the small broom shed, and then emerges a moment later with an aged broom in his hand.

“It looks a little old, but don’t worry,” He reassures, “It’s a sturdy one.”

Jungwon nods, “Sounds good! I trust you.”

Jay clears his throat, “Um, I had originally thought that- well, that it might be better if I flew with you? Since it’s your first time, and all…”

Jungwon is immediately agreeing, “I am not getting on that thing without you,” he says.

Jay is even more gentle about it than Jungwon expected, at first staying low enough for their feet to graze the grass. The broom is not as uncomfortable as Jungwon had imagined, obviously including some magical buffer between them and the wood of the broom. 

(Jungwon is seated just behind Jay, and it honestly hadn’t occurred to him when he agreed to ride at the same time that that would include him holding on to Jay’s waist for stability. He sincerely hopes that if Jay can feel how fast his heart is beating, he passes it off as just his fear of flying.)

“So, what do you think?” Jay asks after a few minutes, “Can I take us a little higher?”

Jungwon hesitates, but says, “Sure, but just- take it slow.”

“You’re doing better than I expected,” Jay observes, “They way you talked, I had imagined a pretty extreme fear of heights, but you’re doing okay!”

Jungwon hums, resting his chin on Jay’s shoulder, “Like I said, I trust you.”

Jay smiles, and urges the broom a few more feet off the ground, about halfway up to the lower stands. 

“Still alright?” Jay asks, concerned as Jungwon’s hands tighten around his waist.

Jungwon takes a deep breath as Jay moves them slowly around the pitch, “I’m good,” He says, “I think it was more of a fear of the unknown than a fear of heights. You can pick up the speed a little.”

Jay nods, and the broom slowly accelerates. They drift in a low circle around the goalposts, close enough for Jungwon to reach out and touch. Jungwon’s stomach flips a little, but he’s mostly just amazed at how easily Jay guides the broom.

“How do you have so much control?” Jungwon asks, stunned, “I mean I’ve seen you play, but even this basic stuff, you’re just so natural at it!”

Jay scoffs, “I am not a natural, that’s for sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was a disaster in Flying lessons first year,” Jay laughs at the memory. “The Slytherin Keeper at the time, a seventh year, thankfully took me under her wing, and helped me at least just know my way around a broom. My passion for Quidditch comes from her. 

“It took a lot of perseverance to get even half-way decent,” Jay admits, “I didn’t make the house team until fourth year.”

“Wait,” Jungwon says, “What?”

“Yeah. I tried out every time, but growing up in a muggle household, I just didn’t have the experience everyone else did.”

Jungwon frowns, “But I weren’t you practicing out here all the time? Your second and third year? I could’ve sworn you were on the team.”

Jay laughs lightheartedly, “I see how much you paid attention to the games in your first few years.” He says, “I just practiced with the team, so I could have hope of making it the next year.”

“Huh,” Jungwon says, “No wonder you’re in Slytherin.”

“I’d like for that to be the reason,” Jay admits, leaning back into Jungwon a bit. 

“Of course it is,” Jungwon says, just being honest, “You’re passionate and ambitious about everything. What other reason would there be?”

Jay smiles, but from what little Jungwon can see of his face, it looks a little forced, “No, no other reason. Just- thanks for the compliment.”

Jungwon nervously feels the air start to grow awkward, so he changes the topic and says, “You can go a little higher now, I think I’m getting used to it.”

“How does it feel?” Jay asks.

“Honestly?” Jungwon admits, “It’s really fun. I’m embarrassed that I used to be so afraid of it.”

“Nah, nothing to be embarrassed about,” Jay brushes off, increasing their height and speed even more. They have to speak a little louder now, to be heard over the wind. “If it makes you feel better, I used to be super scared of bugs.”

Jungwon laughs, “That does help. Ghosts, bugs- what are you not afraid of?”

Jay stalls the broom to turn back and meet Jungwon’s eyes, a suspicious grin on his face. They’re so close that their noses brush. Jungwon’s stomach twists again, but not from the height.

“Flying,” Jay whispers, and Jungwon only has a moment to shiver from Jay’s voice and their proximity before Jay lets loose, and the broom goes whipping through the air.

Jungwon yelps and clutches tighter around Jay’s stomach, dropping his forehead to Jay’s shoulder as Jay zooms around the pitch, drifting higher and higher, risking a jaunt far above the protection of the stands. 

He knows Jay would stop if he asked, but Jungwon finds he doesn’t _want_ to stop.

Jungwon forces himself to look up, and he gasps. He tightens his arms around Jay again, not in fear, but in awe of how jaw-droppingly beautiful it is. Hogwarts looks stunning from up here, not to mention the moon glittering off the black lake. 

And just the flying itself is… amazing.

Jungwon didn’t expect to, but- he _loves_ this. 

He squeezes Jay’s waist again, this time for no reason at all.

The night, as Jungwon had hoped, is one he is going to remember for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, hope you enjoyed! It was super greasy but I’m not apologizing 
> 
> The scene of jay teaching jungwon how to fly was actually supposed to go at the end of last chapter, but I’m glad I decided to make it it’s own bc it got pretty long.
> 
> While this chapter does bring up a few plot points, it’s mostly just self indulgent filler fluff, but I don’t have a problem w that
> 
> I’m also super soft for passionate and determined jay :’) 
> 
> Anyway, as always, thanks for reading, and I super appreciate all the comments and kudos on the last chapter!!!
> 
> Xoxox!!!


	7. friends and family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Just wanted to update that school started back for me this week, which is why this chap took a little longer, and a warning that after this it will prob take me a little longer to post:/
> 
> In good news though, this reached 200 kudos and 2000 hits ??? Thank y’all?? So much?! Your positive response is such a huge motivator!!
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!!

When Jungwon wakes up the next day, it’s to a room full of bright, midday sunlight, and a sore body. He’s not even surprised when he cracks his eyes open enough to read the watch sitting on his desk, and it blinks out: 1:35 PM.

He’s so groggy that his limbs don’t quite work like they are supposed to, and he all but falls out of bed, wacking his arm on his bed frame as he goes. Luckily, the rest of his dormmates have already left, and Jungwon is free to stay on the ground where he fell and wallow in his own sleepy clumsiness.

The muscle pain that grips Jungwon’s legs as he stands tells him that he is most definitely out of shape, as one night of flying was enough to make him this sluggish. He feels like one big bruise.

Despite the pain, and the actual bruise beginning to form on his arm where he hit it on the bed, Jungwon’s cape is still thrown haphazardly across his desk chair, shoes kicked half-way across the room in his hurry to get to bed last night. The sight brings a big, cheesy grin to his face, and if he closes his eyes, Jungwon can still feel the wind on his face.

There’s a note on his desk, and Jungwon rolls his eyes fondly as he recognizes Sunoo’s curling script:

_Hey, Sleeping Beauty!_

_Sorry we let you skip breakfast, but I figured you might need the sleep more, you rule-breaker!_

_I hope Prince Charming treated you well!_

_If you wake up around 10, we are probably still in the great hall._

_If it’s after 12 by the time you’re reading this, find us in the library._

_See you in a little while, lover boy!_

_-Ddunoo ;)_

Jungwon chuckles at the note, and lays it back down on his desk. Satisfied with the night before, if a still a little groggy, Jungwon figures now is as good a time as any to finally get the day rolling, and he pulls out some casual clothes and heads to the showers.

True to Sunoo’s note, Jungwon finds the others a little while later in their usual corner of the library. He’s expecting the teasing, but he still blushes as the crew catch sight of him and immediately start ribbing him about the night before.

“There he is, our little delinquent!” Sunoo cheers loudly, and a Gryffindor all the way across the library glares their way with a shush.

Sunoo smirks and lowers his voice, pulling Jungwon down into the seat next to him, “Tell us everything!” He gushes, and around him the group abandon their books, apparently deciding Jungwon’s gossip is much more important than studying. 

“Did he kiss you?” Sunoo asks, Jungwon’s face flushing even more, “Where did you go? What did you do? Are you still a pure Hufflepuff virg-”

Jungwon slaps a hand over Sunoo’s mouth, face flaming, and eyes widened in surprise, “No, oh my god, Sunoo! Nothing happened!”

Jake raises an eyebrow, “You were out all night and nothing happened?”

Jungwon groans. Why did he think getting out of bed was a good idea? 

“I mean, obviously something happened, but it was all friendly,” Jungwon insists, “There was no kissing, or… no, nothing like that!” He shoots Sunoo a scandalized look.

“Sure,” Sunghoon says, with the same smug look everyone else is wearing, “You snuck out together at midnight, but no, it was all _friendly_.”

Jungwon drops his head onto the table, taking a deep breath. Finally, he looks back up.

“Okay,” He admits, “Maybe it was more than friendly, but we didn’t do anything but talk. It was really nice, actually.” Jungwon clears his throat, “Jay, uh- took me flying.”

Sunoo freezes for a second, and then squeals so loud that the librarian is sending a warning their way. 

“Oh my god!” Sunoo says, “He snuck you out at midnight to take you flying? That’s so romantic!”

Heeseung on the other hand, frowns, for once taking on the parental role delegated to the oldest in the friend group, “It was all safe, wasn’t it? What if a teacher had seen you?”

“But no one did, _Mom_ ,” Sunoo says, “It was a perfectly fine evening out. And if anything- the risk of getting caught makes it even better.” Sunoo smirks, “This one time, Niki and I-”

And then Niki is finally speaking up, “Okay!” He says, loud enough to cover up whatever Sunoo was going to say, “Remember how Jungwon was out all night?” Niki coughs.

Heeseung’s full attention turns back to Jungwon, concern written all over his face. “And you got enough sleep, right? When exactly did you get back to the dorms?”

Jungwon rolls his eyes, “Thanks for the concern, but I promise, guys, everything was safe, and I got plenty of sleep,” Jungwon says pointedly to Heeseung, “And it would probably make you feel better to know that we went super slow, and Jay did everything he could to make sure I was comfortable. He knew it was my first time, so he was really careful with me.”

Sunoo snorts, falling back into Niki’s side, “You realize what that sounds like, right?” 

Jungwon flushes as he thinks back on his words, and then the whole table is laughing.

“No!” Jungwon complains, but the laughter is contagious, and even he can’t hold back.

“That’s not what I meant,” Jungwon insists, “C’mon, Heeseung, go back to being a concerned parent!”

Thankfully, Heeseung’s brotherly instincts out-play his ‘dirty-minded teenage boy’ one's for the moment, and he looks at Jungwon softly from across the table. 

“You really did have a good time?” He asks, “Jay was nice to you, and you were safe?” 

“ _Yes_.”

Heeseung hums, “Well, then I approve.”

“It’s about time someone realized what a catch you are,” Niki says bashfully, and Sunoo nods in agreement, reaching over to hug Jungwon’s arm.

“Thanks,” Jungwon says, sending a warm smile Niki’s way.

“That said,” Jake adds, “If he tries to pull anything, just say the word.”

Jungwon scoffs, and raises an eyebrow at Jake, “Say the word and what, Jake?”

Jake sits up straight and puts a hand to his chest, thoroughly offended, “Wha- I could beat him up! You don’t think I could beat him up? Watch me, I’ll go-”

Sunghoon laughs, and pulls Jake back down to his seat, “Nobody is doubting that you could beat him up, J,” He says soothingly, “But it’s more likely that you would end up with a new friend. You’re too likable.”

“Not if he hurt Jungwon-ie!” Jake insists, but Sunghoon’s arm around his shoulders seems to have drained the fight out of him for the moment.

“I appreciate the sentiment, Jake,” Jungwon smiles, “But I don’t think Jay will ever give you a reason to beat him up. He seems like a cool, tough guy, but really, he’s just a big soft dork.”

Jungwon’s expression must be a little too fond, because Sunoo coos and pinches his cheek, “You really like him, don’t you?”

Flushing and clearing his throat, Jungwon says, “I think I’ve distracted you all long enough! Let’s get some studying done, shall we?”

Thankfully, his friends drop it with nothing more than a few teasing looks, and soon they settle into a comfortable silence. (Which Jungwon is sure the librarian appreciates, as she had looked to be one more loud comment away from kicking them out.)

Jungwon makes it about an hour after that before the symbols in his Ancient Runes textbook start floating around the page. He folds up his homework sheet, sticking it between the pages of his textbook like a bookmark, and then sets the book aside in favor of rubbing his head, aching from lack of sleep.

Sunghoon, who finished his assignments first- _ugh, Ravenclaws_ \- has pulled out his chessboard and coerced Jake into playing, though the whole table knows who will win.

Jungwon yawns, and in a comical domino effect, the yawn contagiously spreads to the other five at the table. They all pause for a moment, and then laugh.

“Alright,” Heeseung says, “I think that’s our cue to put the homework away. We have dueling club tonight- can’t burn ourselves out on work before then.”

“Pawn to C5,” Sunghoon casually says, as his pawn slices down Jake’s knight. “Anyone up for the next game? This one’s going to be over pretty quick.”

Jake tuts, “I wouldn’t be so cocky!” He says, and then, “Rook to A6!”

“Queen to A8,” Sunghoon counters, “Checkmate.”

“What?” Jake pouts, “Damn, I really thought I had you that time!” He says, but he doesn’t actually look too upset about it.

“Good game,” Sunghoon says, and then looks innocently at the others around the table, “Who’s next?”

“I might take you up on that offer,” A new voice says, and then a hand is landing on Jungwon‘s shoulder.

Jungwon looks up, “Jay!” He exclaims, “Hey!”

“Ah,” Sunghoon says, holding his King to point at Jay, “So, you’re the one that kept our Jungwon out all night.” Sunghoon’s face is the picture of a parent scolding a child, and if Jungwon didn’t know better, he’d think Sunghoon was serious.

Unfortunately, Jay doesn’t know better, and with Sunghoon’s scowl, Jake puffing up his chest like a protective older brother, and the full attention of the others at the table, Jungwon can practically see Jay regretting coming over to talk to them.

“Um,” Jay clears his throat, eyes wide, “Sorry, I don’t- I mean, I didn’t-”

Jungwon rolls his eyes, “Guys, really?” He reaches up to lay his hand on Jay’s, where it still rests on his shoulder. “Ignore them, Jay, they think they’re funny.”

Jay still looks apprehensive, but with one more plea from Jungwon, they drop the act.

“We’re just joking,” Sunghoon says, with a more comfortable smile, “Jungwon’s a big boy, he can make his own decisions.”

“Don’t think that doesn’t mean we won’t hesitate to mess you up if you hurt him!” Jake throws out, eyebrows furrowed, shoving his pointer finger in Jay’s direction.

“Oh my god, Jake! Let it go!” Jungwon shakes his head, but he can’t help but smile. Little moments like these, even when his friends seem to be joking- he knows how much they really care for him. If Jay ever did anything to actually hurt Jungwon, they really would help him however they could.

“Pull up a chair, Jay-ah,” Jungwon says, pointing to the empty table next to them, “We were just finishing up studying for today.”

“You said you play?” Sunghoon asks Jay, gesturing to his chessboard, where the magical pieces have reformed and hopped back to their starting places.

Jay looks to Jungwon first, maybe for reassurance, and then says to Sunghoon, “Yeah, a little.”

Sunghoon nods, moving the chessboard so he and Jay can play across the table, “Let’s hope you’re good then,” He says with a laugh, “None of these guys can last a minute.”

Heeseung scoffs, “I’ve beaten you before!”

“Once,” Sunghoon shrugs, “Sorry, Seung-ie, I’m not being over-confident, it’s just the truth.”

Jay sits up, focusing on the chessboard in front of him, “Well, let’s see if I can turn the tide.”

Jungwon smiles and hooks his foot around Jay’s under the table. 

He had been worried about introducing Jay to his friends. Most of them already knew _of_ each other, of course, but it was different now. Jay was his… Well, Jay was different. And Jungwon wanted his friends to like him.

Jay pushes back against Jungwon’s ankle, smiling in his direction. Then, he turns his full attention towards the game.

(“You said you played ‘a little’! That was not the game of someone who plays ‘a little’, that was a massacre!” 

“Well, Sunghoon, you did ask for someone who could last longer against you.”

“Yeah, someone who could last longer, not someone who would beat me in _six_ moves!”

“I guess you’ve met your match.” 

Jungwon smiles, and settles into Jay’s side.)

Though Heeseung and Sunghoon had worried about the dueling club losing members as the novelty of it wore off, the club was still going strong four weeks in. So strong in fact, that they had decided to split it into groups, with 1st through 4th years meeting Friday nights, and 5th through 7th years on Saturday afternoons.

After Jay beat Sunghoon a few more times at chess (to Sunghoon’s aghast dismay), they split amicably with Sunoo and Niki and headed off to the great hall.

(Niki, being a 4th year, was in the other dueling group, and Heeseung hadn’t wanted to give preferential treatment. Sunoo, though he could’ve gone, preferred to stay with his boyfriend. 

Besides, Jungwon suspected Sunoo didn’t even like dueling that much, and imagined a date night would be far higher on his list.)

Jay slots easily into their group, and Jungwon can’t help but feel giddy as they walk side by side, chatting together. It’s comforting, to feel content with everyone he knows. Jungwon has a lot of turmoil going on at home right now, but being at Hogwarts, with all his friends- it helps.

At the beginning of the year, Jungwon had had this weird feeling anytime he didn’t have all his friends in sight. He knew it was a baseless feeling, but whenever they walked away, even just to a different class, a swooping in his gut told him they weren’t coming back. 

He’s figured out, by now, that the fear came from the forced distance between him and his sister. It came from the train station, when he saw his sister for what might’ve been the last time, and slowly realized, if his parents had their way, that it was certainly the last time. 

After that, it was a lot harder to say bye to his friends.

It’s also why Jungwon had so much trouble with Professor Kim forcing them to eat at the house tables. It brought up that gut-twisting feeling again- someone with more authority separating him from someone he loved.

But his friends proved him wrong, of course. Because there was no reason for them to stay away. They still met up in the library, they still hung out at Quidditch games. 

Even now, with Sunoo and Niki not physically with the rest of them, Jungwon knows where they are. He knows they haven’t been shunned away for outdated reasons, or split apart by an authority figure. He knows they are coming back, and he knows there is no divide between them and the rest of the group, just because they aren’t here right now.

And Jay- well, honestly, Jay had been a bonus.

It wasn’t quite the same situation, Jungwon pining after Jay and Jungwon being scared of his friends leaving. After all, in the beginning, Jay had seemed like a hopeless, fantasy crush, almost like a celebrity. He was a year older, he was a star Quidditch player, and he seemed effortlessly cool. Jungwon wasn’t afraid of Jay leaving, because he had never been close in the first place.

But then, for some reason, Jay _was_ there. And Jay didn’t leave. 

Jungwon thought about what Sunoo had told him, before he and Jay’s first study date: Jay was the one to instigate all of their hangouts. Jay was the first to put effort into making them more than acquaintances. Jay _wanted_ to be Jungwon’s friend, possibly more, and that was more than enough reassurance. 

Reassurance for the deepest root of Jungwon’s fear of abandonment- that it was all his own fault. That people left because of _him_.

But Jay didn’t leave. Neither did his friends. And Jungwon was going to return that loyalty with everything he could.

It only takes a few moments to get the great hall set up, the five of them, with the help of Professor Salamanca, using a few spells to move the furniture aside. Soon enough, the great hall begins filling with fifth, sixth, and seventh years.

Jungwon finds his way to Jay, the two of them having partnered up the last couple meetings, and Jay smiles when he sees Jungwon, reaching out to tug him in with an arm around Jungwon’s shoulder.

Heeseung clears his throat at the front of the hall, and they get the meeting going.

“So,” Heeseung starts, “I hope you all saw the new approved-spells list as you came in, but if you didn’t, make sure to take a look, because we’ve added on quite a few, now that we’ve split into a more advanced group.”

A few cheers go up around the room, and Heeseung continues, “Professor Salamanca and I have also decided that, after a few minutes of practice rounds all at once, we’ll limit it down to only three duels at a time. That way the duelers will have a little more space to spread out, and to give a bit of an audience, as well.

“Everything sound good?” He finishes, smiling when the students quickly agree, eager to get started.

“Okay, then just like normal, everyone find your own space and start dueling!”

As Jungwon and Jay head over to their usual spot, Jungwon can’t help but still get giddy at the magic that starts to light up the room. He’s not sure if he’ll ever get over just how _cool_ magic really is. 

Especially talking with Jay recently, who grew up without magic, things have really been put into a different perspective.

Jungwon looks over to Jay to find awe written on his face as he looks around the room, even more enamored with it than Jungwon, just like all the other dueling club meetings. (Jay’s face, glowing with happiness, might be a better view than the magic.)

They start off their practice easy, just trading stunning and disarming spells. Heeseung stops by for a moment, just to make sure they are alright, before heading off to check on other groups, as he usually does each meeting. 

Before Jungwon knows it, Heeseung is calling out again to stop the duels, and the students are clearing a large space in the middle of the hall for the three dueling groups. 

He and Jay have to wait quite a while, Professor Salamanca using a randomizer spell to select the groups each time, but eventually, they get called up, and he and Jay take the stage.

Jay guides him to the middle of the clearing, in between the other two partners, and gives him a friendly handshake before they turn back to back.

“No pulling punches now, Won-ie,” He jokes, “I don’t want you losing without at least giving it your best shot.”

“You’re awfully confident,” Jungwon says, “For a wizard who’s scared of ghosts.”

“Ah,” Jay cocks an eyebrow, “That’s how it’s gonna be?”

Jungwon shrugs, “Not how it has to be- I wouldn’t blame you for dropping out now, if you’re too nervous.”

“Not a chance,” Jay smirks, “How about this: winner-” he says, and then leans in close to Jungwon’s ear, “Winner gets a kiss.”

Where the hell did _that_ come from?

Heeseung cuts in then, voice loud through the great hall, and Jungwon is so glad he does, because what on _Earth_ do you say to that?

Jungwon tries to not show it on his face, but he can’t stop the blush that comes with Jay’s low voice in his ear, and Jay smiles smugly when he sees Jungwon’s face.

“Dueler’s back to back, please!” Heeseung guides, and the three pairs line up down the middle of the great hall, back to back with their wands held at the ready.

Heeseung counts out ten steps for all of them, and Jungwon stays in time with the other two competitors in his periphery. 

“Wands at the ready!” Heeseung says, “And, on your marks, get set… duel!”

Surprisingly, though Jungwon had expected Jay to hold back, he doesn’t, starting the duel off strong with a yelled out, “ _Stupefy!_ ”

Jungwon thinks quick enough to block the attack and then smirks; so _that’s_ how it's going to be.

If Jay’s not holding back, then Jungwon isn’t either, he thinks, and then with a flourish of his wand he counters, “ _Locomotor Mortis!_ ” but Jay dodges out of the spells path.

They both pause for a moment, trading a smile across the hall, and then they’re off, sending spells back and forth as quickly as they can.

Around them, the spectating students are cheering and shouting for them, and Jungwon smiles as he spins out of reach of Jay’s spell.

“Is that all you got?” He yells over the shouts of the crowd, “I thought you were confident!”

“I am!” Jay says, “ _Levicorpus!_ ” He shouts, and unfortunately, Jungwon isn’t quick enough, the spell lifting him off the ground.

“Oof,” Jungwon grunts, as the spell throws him back down. He stands quickly, pointing his wand at Jay, “I’ll get you for that one! _Eat slugs!_ ”

“ _Protego!_ ” Jay shouts, deflecting the spell. (Which Jungwon is kind of happy about- if this is ending with one of them kissing the other, he’d rather not add slug slime into the mix.)

“Low blow!” Jay laughs, “That was a second year move!”

“Oh, yeah?” Jungwon says, “How about this?”

“ _Rictusempra!_ ” Jungwon yells, and at the same time, Jay casts, “ _Incendio!_ ”

Jungwon only has a moment to think, _did Jay really just try to light me on fire?_ , before he’s stunned into silence by the display in front of him.

His and Jay’s spells have _joined_ in the middle. The blue of Jungwon’s magic meeting the red of Jay’s curse half-way between them, forming one long, spitting and sparking stream of magic. 

The noise that the spells make as they connect is loud enough to drown out the rest of the shouting in the hall, and with a particularly loud, _POP_ , the other two duels fizzle out, and every eye in the room turns to them.

Jungwon’s senses finally return, and he pulls away, breaking the spell. The whole hall is frozen for a moment, and Jay stares at Jungwon, mouth wide in surprise. 

Another awkward pause hangs in the air, before Heeseung is taking control, “Alright, we’ll call these three a tie, after that… fluke. The next three duelers are…” He continues, but Jungwon doesn’t hear him, because Jay runs from the hall, and a moment later, Jungwon runs after him.

He runs because… that wasn’t a ‘fluke’. 

They learned about this, in History of Magic. During the Second Wizarding War, wizards’ magic would connect like that, but…

It’s only known to happen when fighting an enemy. 

Jungwon finds Jay in the nook of the west corridor on the second floor. It’s such an obvious hiding place that Jungwon finds himself relaxing- Jay wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t wanted Jungwon to find him.

Jungwon sits down on the floor next to Jay, crossing his legs underneath him. 

He hesitates a moment, picking at the sleeve of his sweater, before starting with, “Why did you run?”

Jay sighs, “You know why, Jungwon. Magic like that only happens- it only happens between enemies.”

Jungwon shakes his head. “That’s not how it works, Jay. It’s famous for happening between enemies, but it really just comes from the wands’ cores. What’s yours?”

”Really?” Jay asks, looking at Jungwon in surprise, “It’s hippogriff feather. I, uh, inherited it from my Dad.”

”There you go!” Jungwon exclaims, “Mine’s a hippogriff feather, too- passed down from my Mom. They must have been made from the same hippogriff.”

Jay takes a deep breath, “Okay, that makes sense. I was worried that- well, I’m just glad there’s an explanation.”

“Jay-ah,” Jungwon says, and then he scoots closer, and lays his head on Jay’s shoulder, “In what world would we ever be enemies?”

Jay stays rigid for a moment, and then relaxes into Jungwon, letting out a deep breath.

“Jungwon, I-” He starts, and then he leans his head on Jungwon’s, taking another breath. “I have… my family…” Jay tries, and then he huffs, unable to get the words out.

Jungwon sits up and puts a hand on Jay’s cheek, lifting his face up to look him in the eye.

“Jay-ah, you don’t have to tell me anything- not if you don’t want to,” He says, as genuinely as he can. “But I’m here, if you ever need a friend. Your family is your business until _you_ decide you’re ready for it to be mine, too. I understand messy families, more than you know.

“Someday I’ll tell you about my family,” Jungwon says, “But I’m not ready to yet, and I get that you might not be either. All that matters right now is that we are not enemies, no matter who our families are.”

“But you don’t even know-” Jay tries, face pale.

“I don’t have to know,” Jungwon insists, “I know you, and that’s enough.”

Jay slowly gives him a grateful smile, and then shyly pulls his face away from Jungwon.

“Thanks, Won-ie,” He says, “Sorry for running out, that was a little dramatic.”

Jungwon smiles, “Just a little.”

Jungwon can’t get his eyes to leave Jay, the lighting in the darkened corner of the castle highlighting the lines of his profile.

Before he can lose the courage, Jungwon tilts his head up and presses his lips to Jay’s cheek.

Jay looks over at Jungwon, eyebrows raised in surprise, “What-”

“Winner gets a kiss, remember?” Jungwon says softly.

“But we tied?” Jay says, and then looks at Jungwon knowingly, “Guess I should return the favor then.”

And he does. Jungwon smiles as Jay’s lips gently graze his cheek.

Jay pulls away with a shy flush, and then Jungwon reaches over, threading their hands together.

The events of the dueling club are already pushed to the back of his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!!
> 
> Just a note, I have no idea what the rules are of the magic joining thing, but for the purposes of this story, it only happens between enemies (this doesn’t mean in anyway that this story is some kind of lovers to enemies thing though, so dont worry!)
> 
> [EDIT 1/28/21-  
> Big thanks to someone in the comments for reminding me how the wand thing actually works! I’ve corrected it in the chapter:) Doesn’t change much, but you might want to give it a quick reread!]
> 
> Anyway, thanks again for reading, and I hope to have the next chapter posted soon!


	8. the unread letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Been a minute, but I’m back!! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!:D

It’s early November before Jungwon’s owl shows up with another letter from Jinsun, alongside an unlabelled, book shaped package. Jungwon waits until his free period to head back to the empty dorms, throwing the package on his bed and settling at his desk to read the letter.

 _Jungwon-ie,_ it starts.

_I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to respond, things got a little crazy over here. Nothing you need to worry about, I’ve got it all figured out now._

_My manager at the diner found out about my situation, not the magic, of course, but just that our parents have stopped supporting me. I was worried, but she was very kind, and she even gave me a pay raise. It’s small, but it’s all she can manage at the moment, and I’m very thankful._

_And yes, my coworker and I are friends. She is very sweet as well, and she doesn’t mind that I don’t quite understand all the muggle things. She’s patient with me, and very willing to explain. She’s even teaching me muggle math! At least enough to help me get by better in the diner. (Muggle money is very confusing!)_

_I am so glad to hear about your date! But I need more details, you rulebreaker! I nearly couldn’t believe what I was reading in your last letter- sneaking out, riding a broom for the first time. I’m glad your friend is bringing you out of your comfort zone. (Though I still wish you would tell me his name.)_

_I agree that it is odd for a wizard child to be adopted by muggle parents, but sometimes muggles are… reluctant to share their pasts. I would wait for your friend to open up to you, as it isn’t really your business. Though, on that note, if you ever do find yourself at a loss for something non-magic that he’s talking about, feel free to send me a note, and I will be more than happy to ask Emily to explain! (That’s my coworker, by the way.)_

_My last piece of advice to you is: take the plunge, and ask your friend out yourself. I can tell from the way you write about him that you really like him, and he seems to care for you as well. If there is anything this whole, horrid, muggle experience has taught me, it’s that you never know when something might end._

_I don’t mean to sound too menacing, but I really think you should just go for it. If it doesn’t work out, at least you will have tried._

_As for your other concern, I have nothing to say except fuck him. Any professor that doesn’t see how amazing you are doesn’t deserve your time. If he messes with you again, I’ll come down to that school myself, magic be damned, and give him a piece of my mind._

_I was serious in that last letter, too- I better be seeing you for Christmas!_

_\- Jinsun_

Jungwon smiles and folds the paper back up, throwing the envelope in his letter box. He quickly pulls out another piece of parchment to write her back right away- the words always come easy with Jinsun. Once he’s done, only a few minutes later, he seals up the letter and hands it out to Eggie, his owl.

His smile falls though, when he goes to straighten up Jinsun’s letters in his box, and displaces them enough to see what he had tried to hide beneath: a big stack of envelopes from his parents.

They’ve been sending them all year, but Jungwon has yet to read a single one. At first, it was because he knew there was nothing his parents could say to justify what they had done to Jinsun, and he knew that was all they would try to do. Now though, it was for both that reason, and the fact that just thinking about his parents these days brings anger bubbling up in his chest. 

With his friends, with his _amazing_ friends, he’s happy. At Hogwarts, he’s happy. When Jinsun writes, he’s happy. And damn his parents for ruining that.

But... it’s been a couple months now. 

Slowly, Jungwon pulls the unopened stack of letters out of his box, and sets them on his desk. He takes a paranoid glance around the dark dormitory, despite knowing that all his roommates are in class for at least the next hour. With a final heavy sigh, he grabs the one on the bottom of the stack, the first of the unread letters, and breaks the seal.

 _Dearest Jungwon,_ it begins, in his Mother’s loopy cursive, and Jungwon can already feel resentment growing in his chest.

_First, I deeply regret springing the news on you like that, on what should have been a pleasant day. Your Father and I’s decision regarding your sister was a difficult one to make, but I hope you hear me when I say it was for the best. I know you must be having trouble understanding, but we simply could not continue housing Jinsun past her coming-of-age. A young squib is one thing, but an of-age and unemployed-_

Jungwon can’t read any further. ‘The news’ she said, like it was some kind of tabloid story. ‘Unemployed’ she said, like it was some kind of insult. A ‘difficult’ decision. The decision to disown her daughter was ‘ _difficult_ ’. 

Jungwon’s hands shake and wrinkle the parchment where he holds it, and he doesn’t realize he’s crying until his tears start to blur the ink.

Jungwon throws the letter to the ground.

But now he’s started, and he’s going to see this through.

 _Dearest Jungwon,_ the next letter starts the same,

_I think my last letter may have gotten lost in the mail, as I did not receive a response from you. In this case, I will reiterate: I regret to have told you our decision regarding your sister so suddenly at the station. I hope you can understand that it was very difficult, but ultimately was the best choice for our family-_

He throws this letter down to join the first.

Would it kill his Mother to at least apologize? All she’s doing is asking him to ‘understand’ when there is no way to understand- there is no reason other than prejudice for what his parents have done- and they can’t even say ‘I’m sorry’?

_Dearest Jungwon,_

_I hope this letter reaches you, I think our owl may be falling ill. I want to try to explain. I know you don’t see it now, but our choice to send your sister out on her own is one that will benefit all of us-_

_Dearest Jungwon,_

_I can only assume now that you are avoiding my letters. I can see where you would be angry, but I implore you to think about this rationally-_

_Dearest Jungwon,_

_This was for the best._

_Dearest Jungwon,_

_I hope you can understand._

_Dearest Jungwon,_

_We are all better off this way._

_Dearest Jungwon,_

_Dearest Jungwon,_

_Dearest Jungwon…_

Sunoo finds him a little while later, on the floor of their dorm leaning against his bed post. The discarded letters are strewn haphazardly around him, and Jungwon’s eyes are red and puffy.

Sunoo doesn’t miss the tear tracks on his cheeks, either.

“Oh, Won-ie!” Sunoo says, with all the care that a family member should have.

He doesn’t ask what's happened, doesn’t try to read the letters; he just settles next to Jungwon on the floor and pulls him into his open arms.

Jungwon gives in then, letting out everything he’s been holding in. All the tears he never cried, even though he wanted to, all the words he never said, though he _desperately_ wanted to.

He tells Sunoo everything. About his sister’s 17th birthday this summer, about his parents acting strangely. About all the books they started reading about squibs and their magic. He tells him about all the signs he should’ve seen, but didn’t, and how it was still such a blindsiding moment for his parents to bluntly say, “We will no longer support Jinsun. We are removing her from our will, and our family registry at the Ministry.”

He tells Sunoo about the look on Jinsun’s face. A look he likely won’t ever forget. There is no replicating the expression of a child whose parents have abandoned them. 

Jungwon tells Sunoo about how terrible Jinsun had had it, in the first few weeks. How Jungwon had tried so hard to reassure her that she was not in the wrong, that it was their parents, but all he had was a pen and paper, and it was difficult to tell how Jinsun really felt through her letters. He knew she must have been holding back for his sake.

Jungwon makes sure to thank Sunoo, too, and the rest of their friends, for comforting him on the train. For not forcing him to talk before he was ready. For being a dependable family while his biological family crumbled to pieces. 

And Sunoo lets him. He just lets Jungwon talk and talk, doing nothing but rubbing his back and listening. 

When Jungwon is done, Sunoo helps him up to sit on the bed rather than the floor, and then pulls him into a tight, comforting hug. 

They sit like that for a while, Jungwon catching his breath. He hopes Sunoo doesn’t mind the snot he gets on his robes.

“Won-ie,” Sunoo says, once Jungwon has finally calmed down, “I’m so sorry.”

And Jungwon isn’t sure how Sunoo knew, but those were the exact words he was looking for, and Jungwon’s next breath comes out much more steady. 

Jungwon smiles sadly, “Thank you. Really, Sunoo, thank you so much. For listening, for… being the best best friend I could ask for.”

“It’s what I’m here for,” Sunoo says, sympathy in his eyes, “And so are the others, whenever you’re ready to tell them, too.”

“I know- Heeseung already knows,” Jungwon says, “It’s not that I don’t trust the others, or anything like that- I just needed some time. It still felt, well, it still felt like a nightmare- like none of it really happened. Like I would open those letters from my parents and they would just apologize, and take everything back. But, they didn’t.”

“I’m sorry, Jungwon-ie, I can’t even imagine… Thank you, too, though. For trusting me with this.”

“Thank you for being here.”

Sunoo smiles, and squeezes Jungwon closer, “Where else would I be?

Jungwon laughs, squeezing Sunoo back, and he hopes the contact conveys the gratitude he could never put into words.

“You’ve really had a rough few months, huh?” Sunoo says, “With Professor Kim on your ass about everything on top of all this.”

“I don’t blame him, for some of it,” Jungwon admits, “I’ve been crap at charms this year- but I think that’s understandable, considering-”

“Of course, Won-ie,” Sunoo rushes to reassure, “No one would blame you if you explained what was going on. If you told the teachers, I’m sure they would cut you some slack!”

“No, no. I don’t want pity. Besides, I did alright with Patronuses, so my magic abilities haven’t been totally crushed by my not-so-good home life.”

Sunoo smiles, adjusting so just one of his arms hangs over Jungwon’s shoulders now. “Yeah, you left us all in the dust with that corporeal patronus. If you don’t mind me asking, what did you think of? I would think happy memories would be hard for you, this semester.”

Jungwon ducks his head, embarrassed, “I thought of, uh… I thought of you. And everyone else. On the train, at the beginning of the semester. You all were so comforting, and familiar, and stable- without even knowing what was wrong every single one of you dropped everything for me, even when the first day back is supposed to be exciting.”

Sunoo doesn’t respond immediately, and Jungwon looks up, fully expecting Sunoo to start teasing him. To his utter surprise, Sunoo starts tearing up.

“It makes me so happy that I could make you happy, Jungwon,” He says, voice earnest and shaky. “I’m sorry for what you’ve had to go through, and I’m overjoyed that I was able to help you through it, even if I didn’t know at the time.”

“Oh no,” Jungwon groans, tilting his head back in a fruitless effort to stop the tears stinging his own eyes again, “Don’t go too sappy on me- I just stopped crying.”

Sunoo laughs wetly, and then pulls Jungwon back into a hug. 

“Whenever you’re ready,” Sunoo says, “I think you should tell the others. I know we don’t get so emotional that often, but it would mean a lot to them that they are a part of your happy memory.”

“I will,” Jungwon promises, “I just need some time.”

Sunoo nods, “Whenever you’re ready, just let me know. We’ll all gather up and have a group heart-to-heart; just let everything out!”

“I don’t know about that,” Jungwon laughs, cringing at the awkward image of the six of them gathered in one place, sharing their feelings.

“I have to ask,” Sunoo says a moment later, pulling away to lean back on his hands, “Jay… is he helping or hurting? Because if you aren’t ready for that kind of commitment or relationship right now, I know Jay would be more than understanding-”

“No, I know he would,” Jungwon says, fiddling with his thumbs, “But, really, he helps. Having something normal to worry about helps. It’s nice to know that some things would have happened no matter what problems my family had this summer.”

Thoughts of his study dates and flying experience with Jay flash in his mind, and Jungwon smiles. Then-

“Oh, I completely forgot!” He exclaims, reaching behind Sunoo to grab the package that, in reading his parents infuriating letters, had completely escaped his mind.

“What’s that?” Sunoo asks, as Jungwon tears off the brown paper. “Space Warlock? Since when are you into Space Warlock?”

Jungwon grins to himself, “I bought this forever ago; it only just arrived. Jay mentioned liking it, and I thought I’d give it a try. He gets super into it sometimes- I swear he could talk about it for hours.”

“Ah,” Sunoo says knowingly, “You aren’t into _Space Warlock,_ you’re into _Jay._ ”

When Jungwon just hums in response, turning the book over in his hands, Sunoo gasps dramatically, “What is this? No immediate denial? No blush?”

Jungwon laughs, “I think it’s about time I just accepted it,” He admits, “Besides, Jinsun wrote something in her letter, and I think I’m finally going to take her advice.”

“What advice is that?”

“Take the plunge. Ask him out,” Jungwon sits up straight, sets his shoulders. 

“After all,” He continues, “You never know when something might end.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading!! 
> 
> I’m such a sucker for found family:’) I felt like Jungwon needed some friendship time,, I hope it was cute and comforting!
> 
> Also, I hope those last few lines get you excited for the next chapter...!


	9. bad omens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, I’m back!
> 
> I went back and forth about this chapter, because when I sat down to write it I was taken in a completely different direction than I had planned. So, sorry that this is not the fluffy Jungwon asking out Jay scene that was implied at the end of the last chapter!

Thursday wakes up with drizzling rain and gray skies. By the time Jungwon and Sunoo get to the great hall for breakfast, they can already hear thunder booming outside. The enchanted ceiling above them is dark and gloomy, flashing frequently with strikes of lightning.

Not even foul weather can put a damper on Jungwon's mood today, though- the notice for the next Hogsmeade weekend was posted that morning, and what better way to ask someone on a date? It seems the universe is on his side this time. 

A plan forms in Jungwon's head already: tonight, at the Slytherin's Quidditch practice, wearing a green scarf. In a perfect world, the rain would clear up by then, but if not, then whatever- you don't cancel Quidditch for a little rain, so it won't stop Jungwon's dating life either.

Sunoo chatters away with a few other Hufflepuffs around them, and is thankfully distracted enough to not notice the giddy look on Jungwon's face. Jungwon had told him, of course, of his plan, and he's not so shy about Jay anymore, but Jungwon has been teasing Sunoo about Niki for years- he would bet Sunoo is just biding his time until he can get his revenge.

Besides that, Jungwon seems to be having trouble focusing on anything- he's too caught up in his own fantasy. He chuckles to himself, thinking back to the first time he and Jay had talked, at the beginning of the year. With hindsight, he now sees how obvious Jay was. Jungwon himself had been so nervous just being near the older, cooler guy, but now, the butterflies that fluttered when he saw Jay were nothing but warm and fuzzy.

There's no nerves anymore- not bad ones, anyway. He shivers in excited anticipation, not guarded anxiety. Jungwon doesn’t quite know where the confidence is coming from, maybe Jinsun’s words finally got through to him for some reason, but he just feels so safe and content around Jay, and he knows they’re on the same page.

He doesn't need to be nervous, because he knows Jay feels the same. 

Above them, magic lightning crackles, and Jungwon is jarred back to his breakfast.

Jungwon still hasn't seen Jay by the time he and Sunoo have finished eating, but it's probably a good thing, as Jungwon doesn't trust himself to not just blurt everything out the second he sees Jay. He and Sunoo meet up with their friends, though, at the entrance to the great hall, all walking together to whatever class they have first.

The topic for today seems to be the Quidditch semi-finals, which are happening next weekend, after the Hogsmeade off-week. Hufflepuff was out already, losing to Ravenclaw last weekend, but this semi-final is Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and subsequently, their friend group is quite divided. 

(And honestly, Jungwon promises, he does not know this much about Quidditch of his own accord. It's unfortunate that the arrival of Jay in their friend group now means he's nearly outnumbered by athletes.)

Proud Gryffindor and Slytherin respectively, Jake and Niki have been jokingly bickering all week about the match, but as they walk to class that day, it gets a little bit too competitive.

“Sorry, Niki, but Slytherin just really doesn’t stand a chance,” Jake says, for what must be the fiftieth time this week, “I just don’t want you to be too disappointed when they decorate the halls red and gold.”

“Awfully cocky… funny that the Gryffindor’s are known as courageous- I think it’s actually pronounced 'arrogant buffoons'!” Niki counters quickly, and next to Jungwon, Sunoo muffles a snort.

"Ah," Jake says, "That's odd, coming from a Slytherin! You ought to think back to last season. Hmm," Jake scratches at his temple, "I seem to remember Slytherin not even making it to the semi-finals!"

“Guys, maybe-" Heeseung tries to de-escalate, but no one pays him much attention, the friend group darting their heads between the two Quidditch players like they're watching a ping pong match.

"I'll give you that," Niki says, "We lost last year. But you seem to be forgetting that a loss for a Slytherin is just fuel to the fire. We _aren't_ going to lose again."

Jake humphs, crossing his arms over his chest, and stops in the middle of the hall to look straight at Niki, the group pausing around the two, surprised.

Jake looks at their friends around them, "At least more of our friends support Gryffindor. All you have is Sunoo!"

Niki furrows his brow, and Jungwon thinks they might be falling close to the blurred line between friendly banter and full-on trash talk. 

"What do you mean, _all I have_? Sunoo's worth all of you combined!" Niki insists, and at his sides, his hands curl into fists. Sunoo looks conflicted between being touched at Niki's defense and worried that one of the two might actually throw a punch. 

Niki hesitates only a moment before saying, "More than Sunghoon's support, that's for sure!"

Jungwon blanches- what is _happening_? 

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Jake blunders, stepping closer to Niki. "At least Sunghoon understands Quidditch, and doesn't just watch all my games like a lovesick-"

"Woah, okay!" Sunghoon says, pulling Jake back with a gentle hand on his shoulder, and Sunoo doing the same for Niki, but he frowns at Jake's words. Heeseung steps inbetween the two, and Jungwon just watches, baffled. 

"Okay," Heeseung says, bewildered, "What the _fuck_ is happening?"

Jungwon couldn't agree more with the sentiment- had someone put a potion in their breakfast this morning or something? Jungwon has _never_ seen Jake and Niki fight, besides playful jabs about Quidditch, and he has _never_ heard Jake try to insult one of their friends like that. A few students passing by in the busy hallway slow down, looking over at the group. Some look intrigued- like they might start egging on a fight.

Jungwon glances at Sunoo, and the hurt look on his best friend's face is more than enough to spur him into action.

Jungwon steps up next to Heeseung, "I don't know what's going on with you two," He looks between Jake and Niki, "But I have never seen you act this way, and I know you don't mean what you're saying. Take a breath."

"It's just Quidditch!" Heeseung adds, "When have you ever let that get between you? Besides, I support Gryffindor, and Jungwon supports Slytherin, so it's even. And Sunoo, there is _nothing_ wrong with watching Quidditch for Niki, like any good, supportive _boyfriend_ would do." He assures, looking pointedly at Jake.

Jake and Niki seem to suddenly realize what they were doing, and they both blink and recoil.

Jake gasps, looking at Sunoo, "Oh my god, I can't believe I said that! Sunoo, I'm so sorry!" he says, looking half as confused as the rest of them. "I don't know what came over me!"

"It's alright," Sunoo says apprehensively, "Just think a little more next time, before you put Quidditch trash-talk before your friends."

"I know, I'm sorry- I wasn't really thinking at all."

"I'm sorry, too," Niki says, and turns to Sunghoon, "Of course your support is important- I didn't mean that."

The whole group seems to take a deep breath, the bustling hallway picking back up as those around them realize there isn't going to be a fight.

But the thing is, there shouldn't have even been an arguement. It was so unlike Jake, the happiest, friendliest of them, and Niki, the sweetest and most genuine, to let a Quidditch rivalry rile them up so much. Now that there's breathing room, and no immediately threat of a school-yard fist fight, Jungwon can't help but be knocked back by how much this reminds him of his family- splintering right down the middle.

"I think we all need some space," Sunghoon says, "We should head on to class."

Jake nods, stepping back and getting quiet, "I'm sorry," he says again, and then they part ways, Heeseung, Sunghoon, and Jake heading off one way for Transfiguration, and Jungwon, Sunoo, and Niki heading the other for Divination and Potions. 

Jungwon takes a deep breath, and reminds himself that one near-fight doesn't mean the end of a friend group. They're family- they won't… they won't let each other go that easily. 

Jungwon runs a hand through his hair, and tries to think about tonight instead: watching Quidditch, asking Jay out, going to Hogsmeade.

Outside, a loud boom of thunder resonates, and a quick flash of light shines through the stain-glass window at the end of the hall. 

Jungwon can't help but think it's a sign.

In Divination, Jungwon's crystal ball clouds with dark grey, and Professor White flinches when he sees it. 

The rain doesn't let up all day. 

Jungwon and Sunoo try to make it through the Quidditch practice, but neither of them are good at warming charms yet, and the stands are just too cold to be worth it. They trudge back to Hogwarts, soaked to the bone.

The practice runs late for the Slytherins, and when the team finally drags their feet back to the school, they are disheartened and covered in mud. Apparently, Niki tells them, practice didn't go very well. 

Jungwon waves to Jay, but his responding smile is small and tired. He wants to go straight over and ask Jay what he's been waiting to all day, but maybe the storm was right to warn him- now is not the time.

Jungwon smiles back, and leaves it there. He and Sunoo head up to the dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> Sorry again for going angsty instead of fluffy, but don’t worry, we will still have a good old cute time with Jay in the next chapter, and I dont want to give too much away, but Jungwon and the boys are not fighting of their own accord, so don’t worry about them. It’s not Jake or Niki’s fault!
> 
> I also hope this doesn’t feel like it’s coming out of nowhere, or too much of a tone change, because it kind of felt like it when I was writing, but I promise there is a reason they seem out of character!
> 
> Anyway, as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you look forward to the next installment!


	10. hogsmeade weekend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y’all! Back again sooner than usual, bc this hogsmeade scene has been in the outline since the very beginning, and I’ve been so anxious to get it written!!
> 
> Also, I was a little thrown off last chapter, since the writing went in a different direction than I expected, but I’ve got myself back together, and we are back on track! 
> 
> One last thing, just a huge thank you to everyone who comments and leaves kudos!! Every comment I get on this fic is like a warm hug, and I wouldn’t be nearly as motivated to write if it wasn’t for y’all:’)
> 
> Anyway, here’s the next chapter, hope u enjoy!!

Thankfully, whatever darkness was clouding Hogwarts is gone by the next morning. The temperature dropped significantly overnight, and instead of waking up to more rain, Jungwon gently rouses to a clear dusting of snow. 

Jungwon glances at the half-read Space Warlock book on his desk and smiles- he knows exactly how breakfast is going to go, and he's not letting the weather stop him again.

"Sunoo?" He calls, digging his robes out and smoothing the wrinkles with a quick charm.

Sunoo's head pops up from around his bed, sleep on his face and his hair sticking up every which way, "Hm?" 

"Can I borrow Niki's scarf?" Jungwon asks, somewhat sheepishly.

Sunoo rubs at his eyes and yawns, "Niki's scarf? Why… Oh!" He exclaims, and suddenly Jungwon's friend is wide awake. "Absolutely!" Sunoo exclaims, and the other three fifth year Hufflepuffs look over in annoyance at the loud voice.

That's all it takes though, and ten minutes later, Jungwon and Sunoo walk down to the great hall like they always do. 

If Jungwon needed any more proof that yesterday's bad omens were just a fluke, running into Jay right at the front of the hall is it. Jungwon waves him over, and Sunoo heads on to the table with one last encouraging squeeze.

"Hey, Won-ie!" Jay greets, and then he gets closer and tugs on the scarf around Jungwon's neck, "The Hufflepuff in green! What's the occasion?"

Jungwon smiles, and takes a deep breath- why not just go for it? 

"If I had a star for everytime I've fallen for you, I'd have a galaxy in my hands."

It takes Jay a second of confusion, but then it clicks, and he looks up at Jungwon in awe. "That's from Space Warlock!" He says excitedly, "I thought you hadn't read it?"

"I have now," Jungwon laughs at Jay's growing smile.

"Well, what did you think?" Jay asks, grabbing Jungwon's hand, bouncing on his toes.

Jungwon laughs again, "That's not why I told you the quote."

"Then, why…?" Jay trails off, creasing his brow.

Jungwon adjusts their clasped hands between them, lacing their fingers together. 

"Jay-ah, will you be the Space to my Warlock?"

"What-" Jay gapes, but he still looks a little unsure, so Jungwon decides to spell it out for him.

"Jay-ah," He laughs, "Will you go with me to Hogsmeade this weekend, as my boyfriend?"

Slowly, Jay smiles, and his grip on Jungwon's hand tightens, "I would love to," He says.

Jungwon smiles, rubbing his thumb on Jay's knuckles, "Good," and then he chuckles, "Otherwise I would have read that dumb book for nothing."

Jay gasps exaggeratedly, " _Dumb book?_ "

"Yes," Jungwon stresses, and then playfully adds, "A dumb book for a dumb boy."

Jay groans, "Is this how you're always going to be now?"

"Of course," Jungwon says, and then he twists around to put Jay's arm on his shoulders, keeping their hands intertwined. "Don't worry. You may be a dork, but you're _my_ dork."

Jay smiles softly, and when Jungwon looks up at his eyes, he's taken aback by the intensity there.

"Is it weird that I love when you make fun of me?" Jay admits, "Maybe it's because I know it's your way of saying that you really like me."

"Damn, you got me," Jungwon says, and if only Jay knew how true that was.

Jay squeezes his arm around Jungwon's shoulder, and picks at the Slytherin scarf around Jungwon's neck.

"You know," He says quietly, "You look really good in green, but you can give this back to Sunoo." Jay lets go of Jungwon's hand and unwinds the scarf, handing it to him. 

Jay opens his book bag, and after a moment of rummaging, pulls out an identical scarf, wrapping it around Jungwon's neck instead.

"I'd rather you wear mine," Jay explains softly.

Jungwon snorts, and rolls his eyes, "Jay-ah, they're the exact same scarf."

"Well, fine," Jay humphs, reaching out, "Give it back then."

"No!" Jungwon says sharply, gripping Jay's scarf around his neck and surprising himself with his reaction. "No, I- I like it."

Jungwon adores the fact that Jay doesn't make fun of him after the embarassing moment, and instead just smiles.

"I like it, too," He says, leaning in to kiss Jungwon's cheek lightly. "See you tomorrow morning for Hogsmeade!" 

Jungwon nods, and heads off to the Slytherin table, a spring in his step. Jungwon finds his way to Sunoo, and slumps down next to him, setting Niki's bunched up scarf on the table.

"Here," He says, dazed.

Sunoo giggles, and takes the scarf, hanging it on his own neck, "I'm assuming things went well then?"

Jungwon sighs and looks at Sunoo, "I'm doomed. He's too much."

Sunoo smiles, and pulls Jungwon into a side hug, handing him a piece of toast.

"Don't worry," He assures with a smirk, "He's got it even worse than you do."

Saturday sees even more snow, and Jungwon finds himself awake before the other boys. No surprise there- there's too much happening today for sleeping in. 

And it's a good thing he has extra time, because Jungwon can't decide what to wear for the life of him. It was easy to complain about Hogwart's uniforms, but at least he never had to think about getting ready. Hogsmeade is a different story, and Jungwon is suddenly illiterate. 

(It's also a pretty good indicator of how far gone he is for Jay, because since when has Jungwon put this much effort into his appearance?)

Thankfully, Sunoo wakes up not too long after that. He takes one look at Jungwon's clothes thrown all over his bed, rolls his eyes and says, "You're a mess. Let me do this."

Jungwon accepts the help with no protest, and soon enough Sunoo has him dressed casually and warm, finishing off by securing Jay's scarf around his neck. Sunoo brushes down Jungwon's hair, and then ruffles it up, and with a final once-over, deems it the perfect 'boyfriend look'. 

"Thanks, Ddunoo," Jungwon teases, "What would I do without you?"

Sunoo snorts, "Probably something stupid, like give up and wear your uniform."

"I would not!" Jungwon insists, though the thought had crossed his mind.

"Whatever, Won-ie. Point is, you didn't have to do it without me, so you look good. Cute and comfy."

"D'you- Do you think it's weird to wear the scarf?" Jungwon asks, nerves creeping up on him as he realizes there's now nothing more than a few hours between him and his first real date.

"I think Jay would be _very_ upset if you didn't wear the scarf."

"Yeah, but-"

"Jungwon," Sunoo says, holding up a shushing finger, "You could wear a house elf's pillowcase, and Jay would still think you look good. I promise."

Jungwon smiles appreciatively, turning to look at the mirror and smoothing some non-existant wrinkles from his sweater. 

"Okay, I'm good," He says.

"Ready?" Sunoo asks, opening the door of the dorm.

"Ready."

Jungwon meets Jay at the edge of the courtyard after lunch, where he waits with a large group of students also on their way to Hogsmeade. They greet each other shyly, and a few minutes later, they board a carriage and start off towards the village. 

Hogsmeade greets them beautifully, snow pillowing up on the ground and covering roofs. Jay holds a gloved hand out to help Jungwon down from the carriage, and doesn't let go once they start to stroll down the street.

"Well," Jay says, "Where to first?"

Jungwon swings their hands between them as he thinks. "Save Three Broomsticks for last, I think. What about some shopping?"

Jay nods, "Good with me. Honeydukes?" he asks, and they head off towards the sweet shop with an affirmative hum from Jungwon.

Jay, Jungwon quickly learns, is what some would call… well, filthy rich. Jungwon never had any idea, Jay not fitting any snobbish stereotypes and not at all one to show off his wealth.

"Seriously, Jungwon," He admits, after Jungwon put a candy back on the shelf for the third time, "I inherited an ungodly amount of gold from my parents- _please_ let me buy you stuff."

It turns into a brief stand-off, the both of them pausing in the midst of the choatic student shoppers in the bright sweet shop. Sunoo had insisted that Jay was quite weak for Jungwon, but apparently when it comes to money, he's as stubborn as they come. 

"Fine," Jungwon cedes, after a little bit ridiculous amount of time, "Fine, buy the stupid chocolate frog."

Jay looks far too pleased with himself, but Jungwon has to admit to how warm he feels when they check out, and Jay hands him the bag of sugar with a sincere grin.

They head to Zonko's next, and it's there that Jungwon accidently lets it slip that Jake's birthday is in a few days. Of course, Jay has to spend the next hour looking for the perfect gift. (All the while still picking up anything Jungwon shows the slightest interest in- "Sorry, Won-ie, but if we're gonna be boyfriends, you'll just have to get used to this.")

Finally, Jay settles on something Quidditch related that Jungwon doesn't quite understand, but Jay assures him any Quidditch player would love.

Hunger starts to creep in then, so they finally head to the Three Broomsticks, ordering two butterbeers at the bar and then finding a cozy corner table near the fireplace.

"Do you always try so hard with gifts?" Jungwon asks, as they settle into the booth, shedding layers of coats and scarves. "I don't mean that in a bad way, I just wonder why it took you so long."

Jay flushes, "I like to be genuine, with gifts. I try to use them as a way to show I care." Jungwon nods along as Jay talks, the rest of the patrons around them filling the pub with a pleasant buzz of conversation. 

"And, as you now know, since money is never really an issue, I try to make gifts personal- usually with a letter, or something specific. I don't want people to think I'm trying to buy their attention, or anything."

"What," Jungwon snorts, "Buying everything I looked at for more than a second wasn't trying to buy my attention?"

"No," Jay insists, though he blushes a bit more, "I just wanted to buy things for you. I'm serious, Jungwon, I couldn't spend all my parents money in three lifetimes."

"Merlin," Jungwon says, taken aback, "You're _that_ rich? What did you're parents even do?"

"They... inherited the money from their parents. I'm not sure how far back it goes, or where it really came from," Jay says. Jungwon can tell by the way Jay's voice goes tight that it isn't a happy subject for him. Jungwon understands- he doesn't love talking about family either, so he shifts away from the subject.

"Well, anyway, I think Jake will like the present."

"I hope he does," Jay says, putting a hand on the Zonko's bag next to him, "I want your friends to like me."

"Wha- they're your friends, too!" Jungwon says, shaking his head at Jay.

"Yeah," Jay says, "Sure," but it couldn't be clearer that he doesn't believe what he's saying.

"They are!"

Jay sighs, folding his hands and putting them on the table. "I guess I've just," he takes a deep breath, "I've never been the best with friends."

Jungwon smiles softly, "Am I not you're friend?" he asks. "You did good with me."

Jay laughs, and drops his head, "If you call pining since third year 'doing good', then yeah, I did good."

"Wait, what?" Jungwon says, brain taking a moment to take that in, "Really?"

Jay nods, meeting Jungwon's eyes, embarrassed, "I'm not kidding."

"Well," Jungwon says, deciding to take the more sincere route for once, "You got there eventually. And now, you don't just have me, you have all my friends, too." 

"I suppose so," Jay says, but he's definitely not convinced. Jungwon senses it will take more than one conversation, but he'll find a way to help Jay be more comfortable.

The pub appears to have great timing, as it's just then that their drinks are brought over, and the interuption lets their conversation shift to something a little more light-hearted.

"So," Jungwon says, sipping the warm, frothy drink in front of him, "Why isn't there a Quidditch game this weekend?"

Jay takes a sip too, wiping the foam left behind on his upper lip. "There's always a break before the finals," He explains, "This year it just happened to fall before the second round of the semi-finals, too. Professor White's advanced divination class called for a storm next weekend, so they decided on giving the Hogsmeade visit the better weather."

Jungwon hums along, and just as he usually does with Quidditch, Jay starts rambling, face lighting up at the thought. 

"-so Slytherin needs to finish the game with at least 270 points, including the snitch, if we want to have hope of beating Ravenclaw by enough to win the cup. There's a chance this year, unfortunately, that if we don't score enough, we could win the final and still lose the cup." Jay says, gesturing wildly and nearly knocking his butterbeer off the table. 

Jungwon doesn't know what Jay is saying in the slightest, but he just smiles, listening to him talk.

"Honestly, Ravenclaw's record this year has been incredible, and-" Jay seems to notice the hazy look on Jungwon's face, and he stops abruptly, frowning. 

"You… don't care about Quidditch at all, do you?"

"Not really," Jungwon admits apologetically, “But by all means, keep talking about it. I love how passionate you are."

"Well," Jay huffs, looking a little bashful, "What's the point of doing something halfway?"

"Exactly!" Jungwon says, "Seriously, keep going. At somepoint I'll catch on."

Jay eyes him, like he can't tell if Jungwon is telling the truth or not (he is- he could listen to Jay talk for _hours_ ), but a group is walking up to their table, and the topic is dropped.

"There you are!" Heeseung says, "Why didn't you meet up with us?"

Jungwon furrows his brow, looking at Sunoo, "Didn't Sunoo tell you? I'm on a date, with Jay."

Sunoo shakes his head, "No, you aren't."

Jungwon looks at Jay, who mirrors his confused expression. "Uh, yeah, I am," Jungwon says.

"You ditched us on Jake's birthday for a date?" Sunghoon says, and if Jungwon didn't know better he'd think that was a sneer.

Jungwon struggles for words, "But- Jake's birthday isn't for a few days? And we have, you know, group plans then."

"Doesn't matter," Jake says, "We were supposed to hang out today, and you ditched us for a _Slytherin_?” he spits the word out. It's only then that Jungwon realizes someone's missing.

"Where's Niki?" Jungwon asks, "Sunoo, what the hell? All of you, since when do houses matter?"

Then Sunoo speaks up, and it's the last sentence Jungwon ever expected to hear from his friend: "Because Slytherin's are nothing but a bunch of _death eaters._ "

Jay sucks in a short breath, and when Jungwon looks over, the hurt and fear on his face is more than enough to spur Jungwon into action.

"Okay, I don't know who the _fuck_ you all are, but you aren't my friends. Go back to the castle and stop interrupting my date, please." Jungwon says, as strongly as he can manage- and right now, it isn't very strong.

"If you'd rather date a Slytherin than hang with us," Heeseung says, and each word stings like a curse, "Then you aren't worth the effort."

The group turn their backs, and walk towards the exit. Jungwon bursts into tears. 

As soon as the pub door shuts behind them, Jay is moving to the other side of the table, pulling Jungwon close. 

"Jay, I'm so sorry!" Jungwon cries. Thankfully, their booth is tucked away, and he's quiet enough not to attract the unwanted attention of the pub.

"Shh, Jungwon, it's okay."

"It's not! I don't- never in a million years did I think they would- I mean Sunoo helped me get ready this morning, I don't understand!"

Jay just rubs Jungwon's arm, at an equal loss for words. 

"I'm sorry, Jungwon," Jay says eventually, "I'm so sorry I've cause this… rift, between you and your friends. Of course, I'll- I'll back off. I never meant to take you from your friends."

"No, no, Jay! This is _not_ your fault," Jungwon says forcefully, "It's my friends, being absolute assholes, and I just don't get- I mean, Sunoo and Niki, why would-?" 

Jungwon pauses, and takes a deep breath, "You haven't gotten between me and my friends, because those were _not_ my friends, not just now." 

Suddenly, Jungwon remembers Jake and Niki, the other day, saying things he never thought they would. "There has to be something- some kind of magic going on here. Thoughts like that, _fights_ like that- they don't just come out of nowhere."

But even as he says it, Jungwon doubts himself. Maybe- maybe he should have more faith in his friends, but maybe they've just been holding back their true feelings all this time. 

His parents did. For 17 years. Who's to say his friends couldn't too?

Jungwon sobs, burying his face in Jay's shoulder, and asks himself: What is the common factor here?

"Maybe... that's how they really feel," Jungwon reasons slowly, "Maybe they were just hiding their true colors- just like my parents."

He doesn't mean to say that, but the words just won't stop, and Jungwon whispers, "Maybe it's just me. Maybe that's why everyone leaves."

_You never know when something might end._

Jay's arms tighten around Jungwon, and Jungwon feels Jay's chest heave under him, "I promise, Jungwon, if you don't want me to, then I'm not going anywhere."

It's too much- it's far too much for a first date. It's too much for any date. Thankfully, Jay leaves it there, and doesn't ask about Jungwon's parents, doesn't make him talk about his friends. He understands on some level, Jungwon knows he does, because Jay lost his parents, too. Different time and different situation, but still- there's no way to relate to that without going through it yourself. 

And Jay knows, in the moment, what Jungwon needs. He just holds him.

It feels like minutes, but Jungwon's just so tired and confused, and the next thing he knows, the sky outside is darkening, and they've overstayed their welcome. The pub around them is filled with adults, no Hogwart's student in sight, and Jay seems to realize at the same time. 

"Jungwon," Jay says, "We should get back. I think we might have-"

"Missed curfew?" A smug voice says, and that's all it takes for Jungwon to feel the last of his energy drain from his body.

"We're so sorry, Professor Kim," Jay says, letting go of Jungwon, "Just lost track of time."

"You might consider a watch, then," Professor Kim says, looking down at them from where he stands next to the table, "I think this has earned you both a well-deserved detention."

Jungwon barely hears the words- it hits him, all of the sudden, how exhausted he is, and his vision goes blurry as his eyes droop. Somewhere in his head, disappointment registers, for getting a detention on his record, and so does fear, because Professor Kim has been trying to give him detention all year, and here they finally are. 

But he's too tired for that. 

Jungwon's legs start to hurt, and suddenly they're outside, and he's leaning on Jay for support as Professor Kim chaperones them back to the castle. 

The end, he thinks, has reached him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!!
> 
> We’re close to the end now, and the next chapter is the penultimate point of the story (ch 13 is an epilogue), so we’re really getting there! So sorry to poor Jungwon for the gang, but again, I promise it’s not them!
> 
> Also wanted to let y’all now that I have a rough outline for a part 2 in the works, if that’s something y’all would be interested in reading? I have ideas, but feel free to lmk of anything you would want to see in a pt 2??
> 
> Thanks again for reading, see y’all again next time:D


	11. everything falls apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y’all. Yall!!! Over 300 kudos?? Yall are crazy thank you so much!!
> 
> Also, we’ve finally reached it- the big kahuna. The one we’ve been building to the whole time. Also this chapter is nearly 6k words. I hope it’s a satisfactory climax!!
> 
> Enjoy!!
> 
> (Also- a brief warning just to be careful, this one gets pretty dark and Jungwon is in serious danger at one point)

The library is much quieter without the usual buzz of his friends around the table. If he were trying to study, Jungwon is sure the silence would allow for plenty of focus.

Unfortunately, he isn't trying to study right now- instead, he's kind of falling to pieces.

Jungwon had woken up much earlier than usual for a Monday, in an effort to avoid Sunoo. Unfortunately, there had been no getting away from him in Potions, but Sunoo himself seemed just as wary as Jungwon. He had tried to apologize, said he didn't mean it at all, and had no idea why he would say those things. Sunoo was ashamed and wholeheartedly apologetic, but Jungwon just couldn't let something like that go easily. 

It didn't matter if he was sorry, if all of them were sorry- they still said it. It may have seemed out of the blue for Jungwon, but words like that don't truly come out of nowhere. Words like that, a way of thinking like that- it has to steep in one’s brain, building and building until you can't hold it in any longer.

It's nearly impossible to believe, but his friends must have been feeling like this for sometime. They were good at pretending, Jungwon will give them that. Sunoo could be a famous actor, with how convincing a boyfriend he played.

Speaking of which, Jungwon hadn't seen Niki at all, not since before Hogsmeade. He didn't want to imagine what the others had said to him. 

Sunoo had stayed pretty quiet all through class, sensing that his apology had not been accepted. He didn't try to follow Jungwon when he ran off to lunch as soon as class was over, and Jungwon hasn't seen him since then.

And so here Jungwon sits, alone and devastated. 

He takes in a heavy breath. A weight has settled on Jungwon, and he can feel himself beginning to crack.

The weather, too, had turned from the weekend's pretty, pillowy snow- now just an icy sludge. Jungwon's afternoon class on Monday's was Care of Magical Creatures, and his feet were still cold from trudgeing through the half-melted snow down to the edge of the forest. Jungwon shivers a little- his warming charm hadn't worked at all.

Jungwon watches the clock on the wall tick from 3 to 3:30, and then to 4 o’clock in anxious anticipation. His detention is at 5:00. 

He slumps back into his chair, gripping his wand in his hand. With a deep breath, he gives it a flourish, and says, " _Expecto Patronum!”_ but just like the last five times he's tried, he produces nothing more than a few sparks. Angerily, Jungwon throws his wand, and it clatters as it settles on the table. 

Patronus's need happiness, and that seemed to be out of stock for the moment. With his nerves so wired, it was looking like Jungwon would not be getting any work finished until the detention was over and done with.

The minute hand clicks over to 4:02 just before Jay comes in, and Jungwon suddenly, gratefully, has more company than just his spiraling thoughts.

Jay approaches cautiously, sliding into the chair next to Jungwon with a sympathetic smile. Which is ridiculous- out of the two of them, Jungwon has the most to be sorry for. After all, he's the one that tried to bring Jay into their friend group, which for some reason seems to have been their breaking point.

Thankfully, Jay doesn't try to apologize again. Instead, he reaches out to grab Jungwon's hand, smoothing a comforting thumb over his knuckles.

"I just ran into Heeseung," He says, "He asked me to tell you that he's more sorry than he could say, and he wishes he could take everything that happened yesterday back. He said he should never have said what he did and he didn’t mean a word of it.”

Jungwon doesn't have it in him to answer. He just rests his chin on the table and turns his hand to thread his fingers with Jay's.

"They want to talk to you- they're all waiting in the hall, but I figured you might not be up for that, so I'd better ask you first." 

"You figured right," Jungwon mumbles, squeezing his eyes shut, "I'll talk to them eventually, but I'm not ready for that right now."

Jay nods, and stands up, "If that's what you want, I'll go tell them not to wait up."

Jungwon nods in confirmation, and Jay walks out for a moment. He's back before long, taking his seat again and informing Jungwon that the others have gone back to their respective common rooms, and that they were awkward about the weekend's events even amongst themselves.

They sit quietly for a moment. The clock ticks on to 4:10.

"I won't apologize for what happened with your friends, because I know you don't blame me," Jay says after a while, pointedly excluding himself from the group and implying that he blames himself, but he continues before Jungwon can argue. "I will, however, apologize for getting you a detention. I know you had a perfect record, and I should have been paying attention to the time."

"That's ridiculous," Jungwon says, rolling his eyes, "You're ridiculous. I shouldn't have… Well, I should have been paying attention, too."

"You had every reason to be upset," Jay is quick to counter, "As the one there with you, I should have been more responsible."

Jungwon sighs, "I don't agree, but I have a feeling we could argue about this forever, and I'm much too tired for that. Besides, we both have detention in about half-an-hour, and I'd rather not spend the rest of that time quarreling over something that doesn't even matter. My record's not going to be _ruined_ by one detention."

Jay gives a small smile and raises his hands in surrender, "Fine, agree to disagree."

"I feel like I should explain," Jungwon breathes out, "What I was talking about on Saturday. About… losing people." He swallows, "Jay, my parents, they-" 

Jay's eyebrows furrow, and he quickly sits up straighter, laying a hand on Jungwon's arm, "You don't have to, Jungwon. Not if you aren't ready. Just like you told me after dueling club, families aren't important unless we want them to be."

Jungwon tilts his head, smiling appreciatively, "Thank you, Jay-ah, but, I _want_ to tell you."

Jay looks hesitant, but he moves to grab Jungwon's hand again, and nods, "If you're sure." 

"My sister's a squib," Jungwon says bluntly. "She came of age this summer, right before school started, so my- my parents kicked her out. Disowned her, really. Took her out of the will, and erased her from the ministry's family records." 

Jungwon looks up to gauge Jay's reaction. The concern is written plainly across his face, with Jay's signiture sincerity.

"Jungwon…" He says, shaking his head, and pulling Jungwon's hand to cradle it near his chest. "I'm so sorry. Were you two close?"

"My sister and I? We're still close," Jungwon explains, and the careful way Jay is looking at him starts to tug on Jungwon's heartstrings. Jay makes him feel safe, he realizes, makes him want to keep opening up.

"It's my parents I've lost contact with," he says, "It just- it came out of nowhere. One day we were fine, happy even, getting ready for the new semester, and the next, we were at the train station and they just… It was just like… like with my friends on Saturday." 

Jungwon takes a deep breath, starts to feel the cracks again. "This whole year, with worrying about Jinsun, and getting to know you- I've been so... so _terrified_ that I was going to lose someone else."

Jay squeezes Jungwon's hand, and the message is just what he needs: _I'm not letting go. You aren't losing me._

It gives him strength, and Jungwon keeps talking, "My friends were so amazing, before I even told anyone what had happened with Jinsun, and I felt so close to them, and so secure." He looks up at Jay, "Then you and I were getting closer, and that was scary because you were just one more person I might lose." Jay drops Jungwon's hand, scooting closer to wrap an arm around Jungwon's shoulders instead. 

Jungwon meets Jay's eyes, leaning into him, "I really like you, Jay, and I think you really like me too. That's why I was willing to take the risk. But, also, on some level, I was prepared to lose you, if it came down to it.

"We've only known each other a few months, but relationships- they happen and they end and I was ready for that," Jungwon sighs, and lays his head on Jay's shoulder, his eyes stinging, "my friends, though- I had finally started believing it when I told myself there was no reason to worry. That I didn't need to be scared, because they proved their friendship time and time again, but at Hogsmeade-" Jungwon's fading strength cracks further, tears forming, "It was the train station all over again." 

"It was my family- because they are, Heeseung, Sunghoon, Jake, Sunoo, and Niki- they're like family, and-" Jungwon chokes, "It was my family crumbling all over again!" he sobs, and turns his head into the crook of Jay's neck. "They're my patronus memory, you know. The happiest I've ever been was with them, but now everything's fallen apart!"

"And Jay-ah, I'm- I'm so scared it's my fault." 

Jungwon looks up, and when he sees Jay's watery eyes, he shatters.

Jay consols him as best he can, pulling Jungwon in close and rubbing his back, whispering indiscernable comforts. Jungwon vaguely hears him cast a silencing spell, when Jungwon's tears start to attract unwanted attention from the other students in the library.

"I'm so, so sorry, Jungwon." He says, and Jungwon knows he means it.

Eventually, the clock strikes 4:45, and they have to head out to detention, if they don't want to be late. They linger, though, longer than they should.

Jungwon's first ever detention is with Professor Kim, in the Charms room, while Jay's detention (not even close to his first) is across the school with Professor Min. Unfortunately, this means they have to part ways just outside the library. Jay gives him one last hug, and Jungwon's traitorous brain decides to think of it like a goodbye. 

Then, Jungwon makes the long walk to the Charms classroom by himself.

His steps don't falter until he finds himself right in front of the door. 

He's getting a strange feeling, standing here. Maybe it's just the left over oddness that inevitably takes hold when you share your life's story with someone, but he feels… a simultaneous push-and-pull sensation. 

Like there is a big, red warning posted on the door, but Jungwon can't do anything else but enter.

He lifts his hand, and it hangs in the air, halfway to the doorknob. Does he dare?

Professor Kim makes the decision for him, opening the door, and all but dragging Jungwon into the classroom.

"Welcome to detention, Yang," He says, pushing Jungwon into a seat at the front of the room. "Professor Salamanca suggested I have you erase marks from old textbooks, and _insisted_ it was no problem to bring them over herself. We'll have to wait on her to get started. For now, I'll just have you write some lines for me," Kim says, rolling his eyes.

Lines. Exactly what any reasonable person would expected from detention. Jungwon breathes a sigh of relief, and slumps down into his seat. He's not sure what he was so nervous for, or what exactly he thought was going to happen- Professor Kim is still a teacher after all, and a teacher would never truly hurt a student.

"Pull out some parchment and a quill," Professor Kim commands, pointing towards Jungwon's bookbag.

Jungwon reaches down to his bag to do as instructed and asks, "What would you like me to write, sir?"

Professor Kim leans forward, resting his weight on the table, "Let's say… 'Being a prefect does not give me the right to disregard rules'- or no," He pauses, "I would like you to write, 'I will not cause selfish problems'."

Jungwon's face tightens up, and Professor Kim gives a haughty smirk when he notices. It's not like he and Jay were just breaking rules to break rules, there had been a serious reason for them to lose track of time; _no one_ would have been able to jump back to normal after their friends said… that.

"Let this also be retribution for your little midnight flying lesson," Professor Kim tacks on, and Jungwon's blood runs cold. Professor Kim hums, "Oh, you thought you got away with that? Don't worry, I'm not going to assign another detention or anything- I think this one will be more than enough."

The notion is eery and foreboding, but nevertheless, lines are lines. Jungwon doesn't doubt there are worse things this detention could entail, so he doesn't push it, and gets to writing without protest. 

He tries not to think too much about what he's writing- that's a guilt spiral he doesn't need to happen right now.

_I will not cause selfish problems._

_I will not cause selfish problems._

_I will not cause selfish problems._

Jungwon gets through fifteen or so lines before Professor Salamanca enters, a stack of books floating behind her- there are probably ink stains or markings in them that he will have to clean out. Jungwon is glad for the interruption, his hand already cramping up- more then it should, for how little he had written.

"So it's true!" She exclaims, guiding the books to settle on the table next to Jungwon, "Our prefect's first detention."

Jungwon's nose scrunches, miffed at the way Professor Salamanca is poking fun. She picks up on his expression quickly though, and puts on a warm smile.

"Don't worry, Mr. Yang. Detention never killed anybody, and one dock on your record won't matter at all." She comforts, and Jungwon nods slightly, dropping his attention back to his lines.

"If you don't mind me asking," Professor Salamanca says, starting to sort out the old books into separate piles, "What'd he get you for?" She tilts her head toward Professor Kim.

"Oh, well-" Jungwon starts, a sheepish smile on his face.

Professor Kim cuts in before he can answer, "Missed curfew," He says shortly, "Got a little too comfortable on a date, lost track of time."

"Ah," Professor Salamanca nods, "Young love." She turns to Jungwon, pointing her wand at him, "Well, you serve your time, and don't worry yourself over it. It'll be over before you know it."

Professor Kim scoffs, but quickly covers it by clearing his throat and turning back to his own desk. Professor Salamanca gives him a strange look, but shakes her head and turns back to Jungwon.

She leans in close and says quietly, "Don't worry about him, either. Keep your spirit. You go on as many dates as you want," She says, and then with a twinkle in her eye, "It's a waste of youth, being well-behaved."

Jungwon's eyes widen, and after a pause, a smile blooms on his face. Professor Salamanca gives one last nod, and then heads out the door.

The atmosphere, however, flips one-eighty as soon as the door closes behind her. 

Professor Kim, scowl on his face, rounds on Jungwon, shooting a quick locking spell on the door. "Finally," he mutters, "Thought she'd never leave."

Then his wand is flicking towards Jungwon, and Professor Kim says, “ _Imperio Animus!_ ” 

Just like that, every ounce of energy in Jungwon's body is gone.

It happens faster than Jungwon's brain can register. “W-what’s… Professor-?” Jungwon stutters, but suddenly speaking takes too much effort. The abrupt change of emotion hits Jungwon like a brick wall- any comfort Professor Salamanca had brought him is gone without a trace, replaced entirely by exhaustion and disorientation. 

“Ah, ah, ah!” Professor Kim tuts, “Save up that energy for me- you’ll need it to stay awake for this next part!”

“Next… part?” Jungwon mumbles, losing even more control of his body. Lethargy weighs on his limbs, and he sinks further into his seat, pressure pushing on him like he’s been tied down. More than anything, though, he's overwhelmingly confused.

“Oh, yes, _Yang_ ,” Professor Kim says, spitting out the name with a wide, almost childlike grin, “So much more to come!”

He stalks forward to Jungwon, and though Jungwon mentally scrambles away, his body won’t listen, staying firmly in the chair. It’s similar, the exhaustion, to how he felt a few days prior, after his and Jay’s disaster of a date. Distantly, he remembers Professor Kim showing up right after.

“First things first,” Professor Kim says, bending down to look Jungwon in the eye, “Now that Salamanca's dealt with- _Expecto Patronum!_ ” and out slithers a large, iridescent python.

An alarm goes off in Jungwon's brain- _this is important_ , it says. But he’s too sluggish right now, too drowsy, to piece it together.

Professor Kim lets the snake dart about the room, twisting and curling through the air, before wrapping itself around Jungwon- another magical weight bearing him down.

“Honestly,” Professor Kim says, watching the snake, “Surprised no one caught on to that yet! Though not to blame you, of course, Yang- I've been fogging up your little brain all year.”

Slowly, as if he were moving through mud, Jungwon's eyebrows furrow, and he lifts his drooping head to the Professor’s.

“Caught on… to what?” 

Professor Kim tilts his head mockingly, “Poor thing- I’m going to have to lay it all out for you, aren’t I?”

Professor Kim stands, and with the flick of his wand, his patronus is curling around his feet, rearing up its head.

“So nice to finally be properly acquainted, Jungwon Yang. My name is Bonhwa Kim, but some call me ‘Python’.”

Oh. Oh.

“You’re a… D-Death Eater,” Jungwon whispers, horrified. “You're supposed to be… in Az- Azkaban!”

Professor Kim's mouth flattens, “I am,” he says, “Do you know which auror put me there? I bet you can guess!"

Jungwon gulps, mouth dry, "It was… it was my M-Mom, wasn't it?"

"Bingo!" Kim shouts, and the volume hurts Jungwon's head. "I think you can see where we’ve hit our snag.”

“But how…” Jungwon breathes out, fear finally catching up to the situation. He was right, he thinks, to have been so wary of this detention. To have been so cautious of Professor Kim. He wants to go back five minutes, grab Professor Salamanca and say, "Get me out of here, _please!_ "

“How what?” Professor Kim- no, _Bonhwa Kim _says, “How did I escape? How did I manage a job at Hogwarts?”__

__Jungwon manages a robotic nod of his head, but it hurts. He was right, sure, but that doesn't do him any good now._ _

__“Oh, Jungwon, you’re in for a treat! You see, I’ve taken magic where no wizard has ever dared!" Kim exclaims, grinning widely, "Admittedly, I had to stoop so low as to study muggle medicine, but it was worth it to unlock a whole new _world_ of spells.”_ _

__He crouches close again, tapping at Jungwon's head with his wand. “You see, muggles have studied the brain extensively. There are all sorts of chemicals swimming around in there,” he jabs his wand into Jungwon's temple, “Dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine- there’s lots of ‘em.”_ _

__“And with the right twist of words, and years of practice- _I can control them._ ” _ _

__As if to demonstrate, Kim twirls his wand, and Jungwon has a sudden, very intense need to fall down and sob. It's hopelessness- his brain floods with inexplicable anguish and emotional pain. Kim pulls back, and the feeling seeps away as quickly as it had come, exhaustion taking its place once again._ _

__“Why’re you… telling me?” Jungwon chokes out, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. _Please,_ he thinks, _please_. What exactly he's begging for, he doesn't know._ _

__“Because, you’ll be quite dead, here in a minute,” Kim smiles, tapping Jungwon's nose with his wand, “Thanks for the reminder, by the way.”_ _

__Reminder of what, Jungwon isn’t sure, but Kim summons his patronus, which had settled around the legs of Jungwon's chair. He puts his wand close to his mouth and says, “ _I have him,_ ” and then the python is slithering away, and after a moment, disappearing from view._ _

__“That should do it,” Kim says, “Shouldn’t be too long now.”_ _

__“Too… long f-for what?” Jungwon asks. He struggles for breath, fingers starting to tingle and go numb._ _

__“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough,” Kim taunts._ _

__“For now, though,” he says, “I’ve got a bone to pick with you.”_ _

__Jungwon looks on helplessly as Kim pulls up a nearby chair, straddling it backwards._ _

__“You’re quite the model prefect, huh? Made it all the way to November before I found a valid reason to give you a detention.” Kim raised an eyebrow, “Of course, I won’t give you _all_ the credit- I was still developing the magic, and I had to spend a good deal of my time here convincing and re-convincing the other professors that I wasn’t- you know, an escaped convict. I didn’t have my eye on you all the time- otherwise, this would have been a much quicker process."_ _

__“I tried my best to make your year as crappy as I could, though,” Kim sighs, “I didn’t have too much luck until I figured out how to do 'anger'. It was a tricky concoction- just the right amount of adrenaline and a block on the happy chemicals. Took some trial and error. In the end, I think it worked well enough to be worth the effort."_ _

__Jungwon struggles to compute- Professor Kim really has had it out for him all year. All the trouble he's had in class, all the spells he just couldn't figure out. All the points he lost, and his swinging emotional range. And his friends- all the fights._ _

__It had never been them._ _

__Kim smirks Jungwon's way, “Tell me, Jungwon, did you forgive your friends yet? After a betrayal like that, I imagine it would be hard. You probably asked them for space- told them to leave you alone for a day or two. And since that was before I gave you the detention, they have no idea where you are, do they? And your boyfriend’s got his own detention to deal with.”_ _

__“You see where I’m going with this? You, _Yang, _are quite thoroughly on your own.”___ _

____If Jungwon could cry he would, but at this point, he seems to have lost all control of himself. There's nothing he can do, and Kim's right- he's alone._ _ _ _

____Jungwon would give anything to go back to this morning- go to his friends, tell them he understands now. Tell them he knows they weren't at fault, and it was actually Kim all along._ _ _ _

____It's too late, now. It's too late, because Jungwon might never leave this room._ _ _ _

_____You never know when something might-_ _ _ _ _

____“Of course, I sent that message for your parents, but I instructed it to take the long way," Kim continues, "And even then they won’t be able to apparate directly to Hogwarts. And who knows- maybe they won’t even show."_ _ _ _

____Kim tips forward in his chair, balancing on the back two legs. “Either way, the two of us have some time.”_ _ _ _

____“Why…” Jungwon croaks, but his voice is barely a whisper._ _ _ _

____“Why?" Kim scoffs, "I thought that was obvious by now. Your mother threw me into Azkaban to _rot_ \- I was only 19. She stole my youth- so I’m going to take hers.”_ _ _ _

____Jungwon can't help the whimper that slips out. He's… he's going to die. Kim is going to kill him._ _ _ _

_____You never know when-_ _ _ _ _

____"Of course," Kim continues, "I'd have liked the set, but your sister seems to have dropped off the radar. Apparently those parents of yours finally wisened up and realized the true worth of a _squib_." Jungwon flinches; he wants to defend Jinsun but his throat seems to have given out._ _ _ _

____"I'll have to thank them for that," Kim says, "I was able to make you feel abandoned by your friends, but I didn't even have to try with your family- they did it for me! I'll admit, it did throw a kink in my plans when I lost track of Jinsun- erasing a non-magic person from the ministry's registry makes them difficult to find- but it seems you're the only child they really care about anyway, so your death should be quite enough."_ _ _ _

____Despite it all, Jungwon is grateful, for a moment. His parents, however unknowingly, might have saved Jinsun's life._ _ _ _

____"That boyfriend of yours was another obstacle, and unfortunately, one that I could not control," Kim says, and then tilts his head at Jungwon, "I'd never hurt someone I regard as a son."_ _ _ _

____Kim smirks at the way that grabs Jungwon's attention. There's far too much information coming at Jungwon, especially when Kim is literally slowing down his brain activity, but he can understand: Jay is connect, somehow, to Death Eaters._ _ _ _

____"Ah," Kim laughs, "You didn't know, did you? Your sweet, charming boyfriend is the son of two of my closest friends- both Death Eaters. I suppose that little secret might've been enough to tear the two of you apart without my interference. I'd hate to break Jay's heart, but in time he'll see he's better off without you."_ _ _ _

____Jungwon feels a surge of anger overtake him, and the real, raw emotion is enough to overpower Kim's magic, if only long enough for Jungwon to bite out, "He's no son to you! Jay grew up with muggles, and he's so much better for it!"_ _ _ _

____Suprise shines on Kim's face for a moment, with the clarity and force of Jungwon's words, but he covers it quickly and twists his wand, once again stealing Jungwon's energy._ _ _ _

____"Sure," He says, "If that's how you want to look at it. But how does Jay see it? He looks at himself and he sees a poor, ashamed pureblood, doing everything he can to hide who he really is. And you, sweet, perfect prefect Jungwon, who makes him want to open up." Kim puts on a mocking, listful voice, "He helps you be more adventurous, makes life more exciting, and you help him feel accepted, promise that 'family doesn't mean anything, unless you want it to'."_ _ _ _

____Kim hums, "It's really quite a romantic story- I'm almost sorry to put an end to it."_ _ _ _

____Jungwon is frozen, even more than before. Kim has been there... for everything. He knows _everything._ He listened to Jungwon and Jay's conversations, he followed them in Hogsmeade. He knew about them sneaking out to fly, and he probably knows about their connected wands. _ _ _ _

____He knew Jungwon's fears of abandonment, used it to create a disconnect among his friends. He knew their group dynamic, how to make them fight without it being too obviously a creation of magic._ _ _ _

____He knows everything about Jungwon. He's in Jungwon's head, right now._ _ _ _

____Everything Jungwon felt this year- everything he struggled with; was it even him?_ _ _ _

____How much of him was created by Kim's emotional magic? Had any of the year been real?_ _ _ _

____Kim smirks, as if reading Jungwon's mind directly. Jungwon wants to scream at him, hit him, anything, but he's too weak._ _ _ _

____"You know," Kim says, standing from the chair and getting closer, "As fun as it is to play with your emotions, I think your parents might be more motivated if you were a little more physically… roughed up. How should I do it? _Cruciatus? Sectumsempra?_ A good old laceration charm?"_ _ _ _

____He smiles threateningly, stepping slowly towards Jungwon._ _ _ _

____Defenseless and paralyzed, Jungwon can do nothing but sit there._ _ _ _

____Kim raises his wand._ _ _ _

_____You never know when,_ Jungwon thinks._ _ _ _

_____You never know-_ _ _ _ _

_____You never-_ _ _ _ _

____The door burst in behind them, and Headmaster Bang rushes in, wand at the ready. Behind him stands the rest of the staff. Kim backs away._ _ _ _

____Jungwon takes a deep breath, relief overwhelming his senses. Kim starts doubting his chances, and Jungwon can feel the Imperius Curse seeping away, little by little. He sits up in his chair, the only fatique he feels now being natural._ _ _ _

____And surprisingly, from the shock or from the absolute insanity of what he's gone through, Jungwon laughs._ _ _ _

_____You never know when you might_ win._ _ _ _

____Sir Hembry, the school healer, hurries straight over to Jungwon with his wand out, immediately casting some non-verbal spell that has pain relief swimming through Jungwon's bones and muscles._ _ _ _

____The other teachers move forward slowly, putting themselves between Jungwon and Kim._ _ _ _

____Kim looks furiously between them, and the whole room seems to hold it's breath, waiting to see what the next move will be._ _ _ _

____Through the gap between Headmaster Bang and Professor Salamanca, Kim catches Jungwon's eye, and the gates crash open._ _ _ _

____It's almost like dueling club, Jungwon thinks dumbly, as he dives for cover beneath a desk. Only, it's dueling club for fully grown wizards, who have no rules, and at least one of them is fighting to the death._ _ _ _

____The room flashes and bangs with red, green, and blue curses, and Sir Hembry pulls Jungwon closer, casting a protection spells that surrounds them like a bubble._ _ _ _

____"Are you alright, Jungwon? Did he hurt you?" The healer asks, eyes checking over for any visible cuts or bruises._ _ _ _

____Jungwon shakes his head, terror catching up with him now that Kim's brain spell is gone. Jungwon's thoughts run double time, desperately trying to take in and deal with everything Kim did and said. His heart races too, part of him focused on survival, glancing around for a possible escape._ _ _ _

____Kim is good, amazing, for how long he lasts, considering its him versus every teacher in the school, but thankfully, Jungwon only has to stay hidden for a few minutes longer, professors- _real_ professors- getting the upper hand quickly._ _ _ _

____Professor Salamanca comes to usher him and Sir Hembry out of hiding a few moments after the spells stop bouncing around the room, and Jungwon catches the last of Kim as his arms are bound, and he's dragged from the room._ _ _ _

____"There's nothing to worry about," Professor Salamanca soothes, concern filling her eyes as she addresses Jungwon. "The aurors have been alerted, and this time, they'll make sure he stays locked up."_ _ _ _

____Professor Salamanca hesitates only a moment longer before giving in a wrapping Jungwon in a warm hug. It's more than welcome, and Jungwon falls into the embrace._ _ _ _

____"I'm so sorry, Jungwon," She says, squeezing him tight, "I should never have left you alone with that monster."_ _ _ _

____"No, no," Jungwon shakes his head, "You couldn't have known."_ _ _ _

____"I suspected," Professor Salamanca says, pulling back from the hug, "But if it wasn't for your friend, we never would have found you in time."_ _ _ _

____Jungwon is about to ask who, but she continues, "That reminds me, there's someone waiting for you out in the hall."_ _ _ _

____Instantly, energy thrums through Jungwon. He doesn't care who it is out there- Sunoo, Niki, Heeseung- he'd be glad to see any of them._ _ _ _

____Sir Hembry holds him back just a little longer to check over him without the craziness of a duel happening in the room, but Kim's emotion magic hasn't seemed to have left any lasting effects- physically, anyway. Jungwon is cleared, and he rushes to the hallway._ _ _ _

____It's Jay, of course it's Jay, and Jungwon has barely set eyes on him before Jay is running over and hugging Jungwon like it's been years since they last saw each other._ _ _ _

____"Jungwon," Jay breathes, bringing a hand up to cradle the back of Jungwon's head, "Thank god- thank fucking god."_ _ _ _

____Jungwon let's out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob, and hugs Jay back just as tight._ _ _ _

____"I tried," Jay hurries to explain, "As soon as I got to Professor Min's room I put it together- Kim, and his patronus- and I tried to tell him. Min thought I was just trying to get out of detention, but then Professor Salamanca came in and she believed me, _thank god._ "_ _ _ _

____"Jay-"_ _ _ _

____"I'm so sorry," Jay chokes out, dropping his forehead to Jungwon's shoulder, "I'm so sorry for getting you that detention, and for not realizing sooner, and I wanted to go in but the professors said it was too dangerous, and-"_ _ _ _

____"Jay!" Jungwon says, stepping back from the hug, but keeping his hands on Jay's shoulders._ _ _ _

____"What?" Jay sniffles._ _ _ _

____"Thank you. _Thank you._ "_ _ _ _

____After that, there's only one possible course of action: kiss Jay._ _ _ _

____So he does._ _ _ _

____It's snotty and they're both crying, but it doesn't matter in the slightest. Jungwon's never kissed anyone before, and he has no idea if he's doing it right, but still, _it doesn't matter.__ _ _ _

____Jay grips the back of Jungwon's robes tightly, pulling him in as close as possible. He pulls back from the kiss with a watery laugh, and presses their foreheads together._ _ _ _

____"I'm okay," Jungwon says, "You got to me in time."_ _ _ _

____"You're okay," Jay repeats. He pulls Jungwon into another hug, pressing a soft kiss against his forehead. "You're okay."_ _ _ _

____He's okay, Jungwon thinks. _They're_ going to be okay. Jungwon and his friends- they're all going to be okay._ _ _ _

____He had worried, for a moment in the classroom, that everything he'd felt over the course of the semester had been nothing but Kim messing around in his head. That his comfort with and subsequent isolation from his friends had been fake, and that everything with Jay had been fake._ _ _ _

____But he knows now, without a doubt- what he feels for Jay is real._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Hope this clears everything up, and that you’re excited to be near the end! After this is just cute stuff and happiness reunions, so look forward to that:D
> 
> A few notes:
> 
> I realize I didn’t give a physical description of prof Salamanca, so feel free to imagine her however you have been, but I just wanted to let y’all know that I see her as a warm little grandma:)
> 
> Also, just realized that they don’t kiss until 11/13 chapters,, is this a slow burn? Legitimate question, lol
> 
> Thanks for the feedback on a part 2, and you can look forward to this universe continuing on after this one!:D
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading, and hope you look forward to the last couple chapters!


	12. more than a legacy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so what I’ve gathered from the comments on the last couple chapters is that you are all mostly touch starved gays hungry for more of the boys just being a big ole happy family… and I am here to deliver !! warning though, this one's pretty greasy.
> 
> First, another big warm hug for anyone that’s read this far, bc there were a few comments asking for hugs, so why would I not??
> 
> And also, don’t worry, most of the angst is over:) we're heading back into the vibe of the first couple chapters!
> 
> Without further ado, hope you enjoy!

_Jinsun,_

_I honestly have no clue how to say this, so I guess I'll just be blunt:_

_Basically, Bonhwa Kim escaped from Azkaban, and since Mom was the one to arrest him, he tried to kill me to get revenge._

_Sorry. There’s not really a good way to put that._

_I still can’t believe it myself. It feels like yesterday was a movie, and I was just watching it play out. Kidnapping, being held for ransom- that's not something that happens, at least I never expected it to happen to me. It should never have happened at all, really, but Kim has some very strong persuasive skills._

_I worked it out with Mom and Dad to come stay with you for break, so I’ll tell you all the details then, but for now, I’ll just emphasize that you have nothing to worry about. The aurors took Kim straight from Hogwarts, and they’re going to give him a higher security cell. And the teachers arrived in time, so he didn’t get a chance to hurt me._

_Speaking of Mom and Dad, I don’t know if they have written to you, or tried to contact you at all, but they were here last night, at Hogwarts, after everything happened._

_Somehow, they knew Kim had escaped. They tried to explain everything to me, keeping us distant and in the dark to 'protect us', but I’m still not sure why they didn’t just go straight to the Ministry. They tried to deal with it themselves and that was a dumb move._

_I didn’t know this, but apparently, the trace doesn’t work for squibs like it does for wizards, and by taking you off the Ministry register, they actually made you nearly impossible to track with magic. Kim even mentioned, while he had me, that he couldn’t find you._

_Don’t get me wrong- I’m still not talking to them. I guess they kept it from us because they didn’t want us to worry, but there were so many other options besides literally disowning you. It doesn’t matter if they were trying to protect us, or whatever, I’m not forgiving them easily for everything we've been through this year._

_And I told them that, to their faces. You’d be proud of me, I think._

_Fortunately, yesterday wasn’t a complete waste. Sure, maybe I got some death threats, but… I finally got together with ‘my boy’, as you would say. He was the one that figured out I was in trouble, actually. Swooped in like a knight in shining armor. How could I not kiss him after that?_

_His name is Jay, by the way. I don’t think I ever told you. But I’m sure enough now, that he’s not going anywhere. So, yeah, his name’s Jay._

_There’s also a few issues with my friends, right now. Again, I’ll tell you the details later, but, long story short, they were forced to say some things they didn’t mean, and Kim is the one behind it all. I haven’t talked to them in a few days. I’m going to find them today, though, and apologize for… well, everything. Hopefully, it goes well, and we won’t let Kim take anything else._

_I’m sure I’m missing something, but it’s been a crazy 24 hours, and my brain's still scrambled up. My friends and I were let out of class for the rest of the week, understandably, but I still have to go to the infirmary this morning to get double checked._

_Write quickly! I’ll have plenty of time this week to respond!_

_Love,  
Jungwon_

He finds Jay later, out by the Black Lake, halfway hidden behind a tree. The snow is melted around him in a perfect circle- a warming charm, probably.

Yesterday's sludge froze overnight, and a fresh, soft flurry has started up, painting Hogwarts white. The lake is beginning to freeze over, too, ice crystalizing on the shore. It's like a postcard- a picture perfect scene. 

Jay smiles when he sees Jungwon, and gestures for him to come sit. A pleasant warmth spreads over Jungwon as he steps closer, into the bubble of the warming charm. He settles in, leaning back against the tree. Jay smiles and tugs at the green scarf wrapped around Jungwon's neck, and then pulls Jungwon into his side, a steady arm around his shoulders.

Jungwon allows himself a moment, which he deserves, after everything. A moment to just sit there with Jay, and pretend none of it happened. Pretend Professor Kilwin, the Charms teacher last year, had never been replaced by Kim, and that Jungwon's biggest hurdle this semester was whether or not to go flying with Jay at midnight. Pretend his friends' minds had never been meddled with, and their friendships were as strong as ever. So many things he would have had, if it weren't for Kim.

Jungwon allows himself the moment, but he can't let it loom for long.

"Jay," He says, "I know about your parents."

A short, quick intake of breath. Jay pulls his arm off Jungwon's shoulders. The warming charm dims. 

"I understand," Jay says, eyes locked on the lake, "You… you can go, then. Don't worry, I won't bother you again."

"What?" Jungwon asks, setting a hand on Jay's arm, but he's shrugged off.

Jay sets his shoulders, still avoiding Jungwon's eyes, "You can go. We're done. I'll leave you alone."

"Jay…" Jungwon breathes, putting his hand back on Jay's arm and keeping it there this time. "Jay-ah, is that what you really think I want? I don't care, Jay, I don't care about your family!"

Jay finally looks at him, eyes wide. Around them, the warming charm pops, and chilled wind ruffles their hair. "Jungwon, you- you were nearly _killed_ by a Death Eater! How could you want to be with the son of _two_?"

"Because you're not, Jay," Jungwon insists, shifting to sit in front of Jay, and look at him straight on. "Biologically, yes, but your parents are muggles, you told me that. They are the ones that raised you, and they are your family. Those criminals- they don't matter. They don't define you."

"You… " Jay gapes, "Really? But our families are… they're enemies! Like in dueling club, when our wands-"

"We'll get new wands."

"But you're parents would never let you-"

"My parents disowned my sister- their opinion doesn't matter."

"But after-" 

"But nothing, Jay!" Jungwon interrupts, "We are more than our parents!"

"What if I'm not, though? What if I turn out just like them? I am in Slytherin, after all! I'm already following in their footsteps!" Jay grits out, anger finally slipping into his words, "What if I'm no more than my parents' son?"

Jungwon's face falls in sympathy. He takes a deep breath, and scoots closer to Jay, casting another warming charm around them. 

"Jay," He says softly, "Would you blame me for what my parents did to Jinsun?"

Jay tilts his head, taken aback. "No, of course not! Why- Oh." Jay averts his eyes, "It's not the same thing."

"Why not? You don't blame me for my parents, so why should I blame you for yours?" 

"Jungwon…"

"No, listen to me, Jay," Jungwon insists, threading their fingers together. "Do you know why I think you're a Slytherin? It's _not_ because of your parents."

Jay looks at him, resigned, "What other reason could there be?"

Jungwon almost laughs- how does Jay not see it?

"Jay, so many reasons!" He says, squeezing Jay's hand. "Your ambition and your perserverance! Sticking with Quidditch for four years before you made the team, training and practicing every day anyway. Your attention to detail. Your leadership, not loud and brash like a Gryffindor, but focused and controlled like a Slytherin. You're Quidditch Captain because of your passion and strategy."

Jay rolls his eyes, "Jungwon-"

But he's not done, "Jay-ah, It was your cunning quick-thinking that made you suspicious of Kim, and your loyalty and protectiveness that made you save me. Jay, you _saved my life._ If not for you, I might literally be dead. If that’s not the biggest indicator that we aren’t enemies, that you aren’t- aren't evil, or whatever it is you're thinking of yourself, then I don’t know what is."

Jay finally looks Jungwon in the eye again, wearing a sad smile.

“You are not your parents, and I am not mine. We are not just a legacy- we’re us. Jay and Jungwon. And I like Jay, just as he is.” 

Jungwon meets Jay's gaze head on, for a moment, and then Jay is surging forward, one hand tangled in Jungwon's and the other soft on Jungwon's cheek. They're kissing again, and it's everything Jungwon had hoped for.

"That really- I can’t tell you how much that means to me,” Jay whispers when he pulls away, eyes watery. “And you aren’t- Jungwon, you are nothing like your parents either.” 

And then, like gates opening, Jay says everything he's been holding back.

"Jungwon, I can't even begin to- to tell you have much you've grown to mean to me. I've been keeping my distance, from everyone, since I started at Hogwarts, because there was always the chance that they would find out about my parents, but I couldn't help it with you. You're like a magnet and I just want to be around you all the time."

Jungwon's cheeks bloom red, which he blames on the cold, but he doesn't interrupt. Jay listened to his embarrasing ramble, so he's going to listen to Jay's.

"You are kind and accepting. And you are _so_ strong. After everything that happened, that you dealt with this year, you're still the same you, and you don't let what others think affect you. You are quite possibly the bravest person I have ever met, and I constantly strive to live up to being your- well, your-"

"Boyfriend," Jungwon finishes for him, and Jay smiles wide.

"Yeah," He says softly, tightening his grip on Jungwon's hand. "Boyfriend. I ask myself every time I see you what I did to deserve you, and from now on I'll ask myself how in the world someone so amazing is my boyfriend."

"I think you're taking it a little far, Jay…" Jungwon says bashfully, shaking his head.

"Never," Jay says, completely genuine, "And I'm never going to let you forget how incredible you are."

Jungwon groans, dropping his head onto Jay's shoulder, "You're so sappy. Is this what I'm going to have to deal with?"

"For as long as you'll have me, yeah," Jay says, "And I'm going to be the best boyfriend possible. I'm going to buy you stuff, and write you letters, and-"

"Jay!" Jungwon laughs, "Didn't you hear me say that I just need _you_ , as you are?" 

"Sure," Jay says, "And part of me is very invested in you, so you are just going to have to accept that, and accept all the compliments I give you, and all the hugs, and all the-"

Jungwon puts a hand over Jay's mouth, shushing him, "Okay, I get it!" He laughs, "I said I like you as you are, and I meant it. If it makes you happy to make me happy, then who am I to complain?"

Jay grins, eyes sparkling, and plants a kiss on Jungwon's cheek. "And kisses too," He says, "Lots and lots of them."

Jungwon would respond, but Jay catches his lips once again.

It's when there walking back up to the school, hand in hand, that Jay says, "I'd like you to meet my parents, my adoptive parents, when we get to the train station for winter break."

Jungwon's face cracks into a big smile, "Really? I'd love to!"

"Good," Jay says, swinging their hands between them, a bounce in his step.

"You can meet Jinsun, too, if you want. I worked it out with my parents yesterday that I'm going to stay with her over break."

"That's awesome, Won-ie! Of course I want to meet her."

They keep walking, but it's only a moment before Jungwon feels Jay's eyes on him again.

"What?" He asks lightly.

Jay blushes, but doesn't look away. "Nothing, I just- I really like you, Jungwon. I really, really like you."

"Oh, yeah?" Jungwon challenges, lips tugging up at the edge, "How much?"

"Hm?"

"How much do you like me?"

Jay shakes his head exaggeratedly, "Geez, I mean- more than Quidditch."

Jungwon gasps, "More than Quidditch?!"

"Yes, more than Quidditch," Jay laughs.

"Wow," Jungwon beams, "I must really mean a lot to you, huh?"

Jay looks over, "More than you know."

They head straight to the library after that, where Jungwon had asked the others to meet them- the library being relatively empty since the other students were all in class. Jungwon pauses at the door, but Jay is there to support him, and they walk in together. 

They're all there- Heeseung, Sunghoon, Jake, Sunoo, and Niki- at their table, tucked into the corner, though the table is clear instead of covered in homework like usual. As soon as they catch sight of Jungwon and Jay, everyone is clamoring to apologize, check on Jungwon, and ask what happened at once.

Jungwon can't make out of a word of it, and he laughs as he shushes everyone, he and Jay sitting down at the table.

"There is no need to apologize, really," He says, "There's an explanation for everything."

And so he tells them, all about Kim and his emotional magic, and why they weren't to blame for anything they said. He finally tells them about Jinsun, why his parents did what they did, and why that still doesn't excuse their actions in the slightest. 

His friends look skepticle at first, but things start to click eventually.

"I know you said there's no need for apologies, but I still feel terrible," Jake says, across the table, "And even if I'm not apologizing for myself, I'm still so sorry for what you had to go through, Won-ie."

"Me too," Sunghoon says, "And I'm glad you told us everything. If you ever need someone to talk to, or just someone to listen, I'm always available."

Jungwon nods, appreciatively. There's something else though, that has been worrying him.

"And Niki," Jungwon asks, "Are you alright? When we… talked, at the Three Broomsticks- you weren't there."

Niki smiles and explains, "I was actually just in the bathroom."

"Yeah, we didn't say anything to him," Sunoo says, from next to Niki, "Thank god. I've never felt anything like the… the hatred that came over me when I saw you and Jay that day. Only, there was no reason for me to hate you. It's like my brain, all of our brains, were scrambling to find anything against you, and the only thing it could come up with was the house rivalry."

"It's hard to describe," Heeseung adds, "Obviously, you know, if Professor Kim was messing with your head, too. But it wasn't hatred or anger towards Slytherin, it was just towards you- I guess that's why we didn't say anything to Niki."

"Well," Jay says, "Kim's goal wasn't really to split up your friend group. It was more to isolate Jungwon."

"I still want to apologize to you, though, Jay," Sunghoon says, "Even if I didn't mean what I said, it must have hurt."

"Really," Jay insists, "Like Jungwon said- I know it wasn't you." 

"I should tell you all, though," Jay continues, looking at Jungwon, who gives him an encouraging smile, "Before you start feeling too bad. I was raised by muggles, but my parents are actually- were actually, um, Death Eaters."

The table is quiet for a moment, soaking it in. Jungwon doesn't like the face Jay's making, like he fully expects he's about to be yelled at.

Eventually, Heeseung says, "Well, are you a Death Eater?"

Jay's eyes widen, "No! Of course not. Never!"

"Well, okay," Jake says, "Then all's good."

"All's… good?" Jay questions.

"Of course," Niki says, "Jay, you've been an amazing Captain this year, and before that, you were an amazing teammate. You're still you, and your parents don't change that."

"Yeah," Heeseung confirms, "You're our friend, and no one is going to judge you for your family- it's not like you chose to be their kid."

"You did chose Jungwon, though," Sunoo says with a smile, "And to me, that proves you've got your head on straight. I will say, we're kind of a package deal, so you're a part of the gang now, no take-backsies."

Jay laughs, though he looks a little confused. Jungwon reaches over to take his hand.

"Thank you," Jay says finally.

"I've had a thought," Sunoo says, sitting up straight, "That I should be truthful about something too, as long as we're all coming clean."

He looks around the table, gauging reactions. 

"Go ahead," Sunghoon says, "We're listening."

Sunoo looks at them gratefully. "Okay," He says, "It's nothing bad. I just never wanted this to affect the way you see me, but I trust you all."   
He steals himself with a breath, and then says, "As a child, I, uh, had a pretty severe illness. It landed me in St. Mungos for a few months."

Niki lays a comforting hand on Sunoo's arm, but he doesn't look surprised, and Jungwon gets the feeling that he already knew.

"I fully recovered," Sunoo continues, "But I'm still not as strong as I could be. I didn't tell you because I don't want you to treat me like I'm fragile or weak, or anything."

"Of course you aren't," Niki says, "And anyway, there are more kinds of strength than muscle."

Sunoo smiles appreciatively, and kisses Niki on the cheek.

"What he said," Jungwon says with a grin.

"I'll, um, I'll share something, too," Jake speaks up, "I'm kind of… terrified for next year."

Sunghoon frowns, "Why?"

"We're going to be 7th years," Jake says. "We're supposed to like, have it figured out. What we're going to do with our lives. I have no idea!"

Heeseung squeezes Jake's shoulder, "You don't have to have anything figured out."

"And what about Quidditch?" Niki asks, "I thought you wanted to play professionally?"

Jake sighs, "I do, but- I haven't been playing for that long and… I don't think I'm good enough."

Immediately the table erupts in protests, everyone ferociously insisting that Jake has nothing to worry about, and that he is absolutely good enough.

"Besides," Sunghoon says, "Even if you don't go professional, that doesn't mean you aren't an outstanding Quidditch player."

"Seriously, Jake," Jay adds, "You're really good, and just since the start of this year you've gotten so much better."

"Alright, alright," Jake sputters, "I get it."

"I understand why you're worried," Jungwon says, "But we are all here to remind you that you have no reason to be."

Heeseung, who's sitting next to Jake, nods in affirmation, and then glances around the table. "I guess it's my turn, then," he says. "So, you've all heard of Lightning Strike, the competitive dueler?"

"Yeah," Jay says, the rest of the table nodding.

"Well," Heeseung sighs, "She's my older sister."

"No way!" 

"Yeah," Heeseung grumbles.

"Why did you never- I mean, if my sister was famous, I'd make sure everyone knew! Instant popularity!" Sunoo says.

"That's exactly why I never told anyone," Heeseung explains, "And why, outside of you guys, I'd like to still keep it a secret."

"Of course," Jungwon assures, "But- why?"

"I didn't want to live in her shadow," Heeseung says, "And I didn't want people to think any different of me. When someone compliments my dueling, it's because of my own skill, not my sister's."

"That makes sense," Jake says, "Even if I had known, though, I'd still think you were one of the most impressive duelers out there, with or without the family name."

"Thanks," Heeseung says. "I just… struggle a lot, with feeling like I need to live up to her. With my parents, sometimes I feel like I could never do enough to make them proud."

"Hey," Jungwon says, "Haven't we established that our parents' opinions don't have to matter? I, for one, am always proud of you, Seung-ie."

The rest of the group assure him of the same, and Heeseung hides his face in his hands.

"I, uh, have something else, too," Heeseung admits shyly.

"Don't hold back," Sunoo says, "This has already turned into a group therapy session- you shouldn't be afraid to tell us anything."

Heeseung chuckles, "Alright, well… I actually, kind of, maybe, am really into Space Warlock."

They all pause for a moment. 

Niki is the first to break, and then the whole table is gone, laughing their heads off. 

Maybe it's the unexpectedness of the comment that makes them lose it, or maybe they've just missed each other. It's such a familiar, welcome feeling, laughing with his friends about something stupid, and Jungwon wishes it would never end.

"I like Space Warlock, too!" Jay shares excitedly, once they've calmed down.

Heeseung's face lights up, "Really?"

"Oh, no," Sunoo says, "I'm going to cut you both off right there, because I have a feeling you could ramble about space wizards for hours, and Niki hasn't gone yet."

"What?" Niki says, sobering up when he hears his name, "What do you mean?"

"It's your turn to tell us a secret," Sunoo says, nudging him, "It's up to you how personal it is, of course, but we're all getting vulnerable here."

The last of the laughter tapers off, leaving behind warm smiles as the group looks to Niki.

"Well," Niki starts slowly, "It's not really a secret, but there's something I've always wanted to tell you guys. I only didn't because I thought it would be too sappy."

"No such thing right now," Jungwon assures.

Niki clears his throat, shifting in his seat. "I, um, I just want you all to know how much I appreciate you. I was pretty lonely, especially first and second year, and it was hard to be so far from home. But then, meeting Sunoo, and later, everyone else- you really helped me more than I can say. Just being friends with you all, feeling included… I mean, you guys are like family. My home away from home."

"Aw!" Sunoo coos, "Niki!" Niki grumbles as Sunoo pulls him into his arms, and Jungwon can't resist getting up and joining in. After a moment, the whole group is there, for one big warm hug. 

It's too much, and Jungwon can't help it when he starts crying. After the roller coaster that the last few days have been, something about being with everyone, something about feeling completely relaxed for the first time in a while- it gets to him.

Luckily, he's not the only one that's started to shed tears. Unfortunately, that means they're all crying and hugging each other, and Jungwon is very glad there's no one else in the library right now.

"I don't-" Sunghoon sniffles, "I don't really have some big secret, but I'm the same as Niki. You guys really mean a lot to me, even if I don't show it all the time. I know I'm not the most vocal about feelings, but I care about you guys a lot."

"If an escaped convict magic-ed our brains to hate each other," Sunghoon continues, "And we're all still best friends, then I think we can make it through anything. And I get a free pass to be as cheesy as I want- we all do- because Jungwon literally almost died yesterday, so, I'm just going to say it: I love all of you. I really do."

Niki groans from the middle of them all, "That's a nice thought," He says, "But I kind of can't breathe."

They all laugh, tears evident in their voices, and Sunoo says, "You're just going to have to deal with it. This hug has to last five minutes, at least."

Jungwon smiles, relaxing into the hug. Jay is right behind him, head hooked on Jungwon's shoulder, and Sunoo is to his right. Niki's in the middle, and on the other side are Heeseung, Sunghoon, and Jake, smushing in just as tight.

Jungwon smiles, and since they've all gone full sappy, he says, "I think this might be my new patronus memory."

Sunoo laughs loudly, the others groaning and shaking their heads.

Behind him, Jay squeezes closer, and says, "Me too." He whispers it though, so quietly that Jungwon thinks he didn't intend for anyone to hear. 

Jungwon's heart swells, and he lives in the moment. Around him is his family, and that's all he needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope that was satisfyingly cute and therapeutic and not too cheesy… so sorry to won-ie for the way this story played out:( he won't be held hostage again, promise. 
> 
> anyway, we're so so close to the end now:(( i'll get sappy in the next chapter, but big thanks to everyone that's reading, and a super thanks to those that have been here since chapter 1. It's been a little over a month since I started posting!? and that was back when there were only like 40 fics in the jaywon tag, so you might have only clicked on this because you'd already read everything else, but either way, thanks for sticking around for the rest of it:D!!!
> 
> Love all of you, and I'll sign off with another greasy group hug for everyone <3 <3


	13. the hufflepuff in green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are, the final chapter. I mean it when I say this wouldn’t have happened without you guys:’) your comments and support kept me writing, and we’ve finally made it to the end😭
> 
> 400 kudos and nearly 6000 hits is unreal!!! Thank you all so much for reading, whether you’ve been here from chapter one or if you’re finding this months later, I love and appreciate every one of you!!!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this sappy ending:D

The morning of the spring Quidditch final, Jungwon wakes up to Sunoo wacking him in the face with a shirt, saying, "Get up, lazy bones." 

He also wakes up warm, relaxed, and very, very happy.

It's been a few months since... everything. If somehow Jungwon had a time machine, and could go back to when Kim was still in prison to stop it all before it starts, he would, but honestly, he isn't too upset with how things have turned out.

He and his friends are closer than they ever were, bonding through secrets, but still maintaining the light, teasing dynamic they had before. And he and Jay specifically- well, they have a shared experience that you can't go through without becoming at least best friends. (Jungwon is more than happy that it's gone beyond best friends, though.)

Jinsun, too, is living a better life than before, moving on in the muggle world, with so many more prospects than she had with wizards. Visiting her over winter break, Jungwon saw it first hand. Amongst muggles, she isn't the odd one out, and he could see how much happier she is in every part of her life.

Things have gone back to normal- to better than normal- and Jungwon couldn't be more content.

Speaking of normal, Sunoo hits him in the face again.

Jungwon laughs, sitting up and snatching the shirt from Sunoo to snap it back in his direction.

"You slept in, loverboy," Sunoo says, "Get up, or we won't have time for breakfast before the match."

Jungwon rolls his eyes, "How long are you going to keep the nicknames up?"

"Let's see," Sunoo cocks one eyebrow, "I seem to remember you teasing me for months after Niki and I got together, so probably… until we graduate, at least."

Jungwon groans, falling back on his bed, "Karma is a bitch- but I guess that's fair." Jungwon runs a hand over his face, yawning, "Can you at least come up with something better than 'loverboy'?"

A grin blooms on Sunoo's face, "Would you prefer 'Romeo'?" He says, "Or perhaps, 'Groupie'?"

" _Groupie?_ "

"Hey," Sunoo says, raising his hands in surrender, "You're the one that asked for Jay's jersey."

Jungwon huffs, looking down at the shirt Sunoo had been hitting him with- green and silver, with 'PARK' embroidered on the back.

"Great," Jungwon says flatly, "I'm a groupie."

Sunoo laughs, "Honestly, Won-ie, I would call Jay a groupie before I'd call you one. Poor guy's so gone- like a little puppy."

"He is not," Jungwon says, finally getting out of bed. 

"Not even you believe that," Sunoo scoffs, "Which reminds me," he grabs something off his desk, "You've got _another_ love letter."

Quickly, Jungwon snags the envelope from Sunoo, face warming.

"You're just jealous Niki never sends you notes," Jungwon jabs, tossing the jersey on his bed and opening the envelope.

Sunoo gags, "As if."

"You _are_ jealous!" Jungwon realizes happily, and then he steps over to pat Sunoo on the shoulder, "Sorry that Jay is just the perfect boyfriend. Don't worry, I'll let Niki know you want a little more romance."

Sunoo shrugs Jungwon's hand off, "Whatever, just get dressed and read your stupid letter. I'm hungry."

" _So_ jealous," Jungwon teases again, and then starts getting ready, pulling on the green jersey.

Breakfast is a chaotic affair, the whole school buzzing with excitement for the final game of the year. It feels especially lawless among the Slytherin Quidditch team, which is where Jungwon happens to be sitting.

He makes a point of it, nowadays, to do his best _not_ to sit at the Hufflepuff table, since Professor Kim is gone. The other teachers have, graciously, encouraged it. 

The other students have embraced the table mixing as well. Rumors spread fast about what happened to Jungwon, and though many of the accounts are wildly incorrect (like one student who claimed Kim had dangled Jungwon off the side of the Astronomy Tower), many, for whatever reason, seem to have latched on to the detail that Kim kept busting Jungwon and his friends for sitting at the wrong table. Maybe it's simply because everyone hated that rule already, but the encounter seems to have caused a turning point, and it's hard now to even tell which table is which. 

Take the Slytherin Quidditch team, for example. The team itself is easy to discern because of the solid green uniforms, but the members have attracted students from all over. Jungwon and Sunoo sit next to Niki and Jay respectively, representing Hufflepuff alongside 6th year Soobin, who sits next to Slytherin's beater Yeonjun. 

Next to them are two of Slytherin's chasers, one with her Ravenclaw boyfriend, and the other with a friend from Gryffindor. Wooyoung, the team's seeker, sits a little ways down next to San and their large entourage of friends from all three other houses.

It's inter-house unity, as it should be. Students together as one, not seperated by personality or defined by blood.

Jay, of course, is ecstatic to have Jungwon there with him. Once they started dating, it didn't take long for Jungwon to realize how tactile Jay is, and he's never without an arm or two around his shoulders these days.

Jay was nearly as excited to see Jungwon in his jersey, and Jungwon suspects that if he hadn't asked for it, Jay would have given it to him anyway. Secretly, Jungwon is just as happy to be wearing the jersey as Jay is to see him in it. One of these days, Jungwon is going to find something of his to give Jay- he wants people to look at them and know they're together. 

Not that he'd ever tell Jay that. Jay is shamelessly gushy enough for the both of them, and so Jungwon can continue to guiltlessly tease Jay and pretend his heart doesn't still jump out of his chest everytime Jay smiles at him.

Speaking of- "So, wait, tell me again," Jungwon feigns confusion, "How can you catch the Snitch and still lose?"

Jay, bless him, gently and genuinely answers Jungwon's question, "Well, the game goes to whichever team had the most points at the end. So, if you score enough before-"

"Jay, really," Sunoo cuts him off, either having had enough or taking pity on Jay, "You really think Jungwon has been to every game this season and still doesn't know how points work?"

"I'm just-" Jay says, and then he turns back to Jungwon, "Wait, do you-" 

Jungwon hides a smile behind his hand, "Sorry, Jay-ah." 

Jay gasps dramatically, and then pouts, "Betrayal," He says, pulling away from Jungwon to cross his arms across his chest. "No one appreciates me!"

Jungwon laughs, tugging Jay's arm back around his shoulders, "You're just too easy!"

Jay humphs, and doesn't answer, so Jungwon turns up the cuteness.

"And too sweet! I love that you were so willing to explain," He says, and he knows Jay, so he also knows exactly how to turn this around- "Even if I am a little offended that you think I'm dumb enough to not have caught on to the rules of Quidditch by now."

Jay immediately gives in, hugging Jungwon close again. "I don't think you're dumb! I just wanted to make sure you understood."

"I know, Jay-ah, thank you," Jungwon says, snuggling into to Jay's side. Across the table, Sunoo rolls his eyes and groans.

Jungwon sticks out his tongue at Sunoo, who sticks his out right back.

And yeah, Jungwon thinks- this is way better than normal.

Jungwon doesn’t even like Quidditch, not really, and Hufflepuff had a terrible spring season, but he can’t deny how much of a _rush_ it is to cheer at the final- especially now that he has stock in Slytherin. The wicked weather whipping scarlett and green players around the field, the pull in his chest as he cheers alongside his friends and the rest of the spectators.

It's Gryffindor vs Slytherin, the final game of the spring season. To his left, Sunoo joins him in green, and to his right, Heeseung and Sunghoon wear scarlett, for Jake. An even split, but their divide is nothing but friendly. 

The teams are rounding the pitch before the game, showing off and hyping up the crowd. Predictably, two of the Slytherins head straight in their direction. 

"You look good in my jersey!" Jay shouts with a cheeky grin, drawing the eyes of the surrounding students to Jungwon. (They're probably looking at Sunoo, too, who's screaming like a banshee next to Jungwon as Niki shows off on his broom.)

"You need to work on your compliments!" Jungwon yells back, rolling his eyes, "You used that one twice already!"

Jay laughs, and then does a flip with his broom, scratching at his head. "Okay!" He says, pointing at Jungwon, "You look _beautiful_ in my jersey!"

Jungwon fake-barfs, exaggerating so Jay can see from the pitch, and Jay holds a dramatic hand to his heart. Jungwon is about to respond, but it's then that the referee blows the whistle, and their banter is cut short.

"Time to get serious, Captain!" Jungwon says, cupping his hands around his mouth to make sure Jay hears him, "Get out there and win for me!"

Jay sets his shoulders, playfully saluting to Jungwon, before swooping down to meet Gryffindor's Captain for the handshake.

As ridiculous as Jungwon used to find sports fans, he has to admit that he's starting to understand. It isn't even about Quidditch, it's about support the people you love- and that includes Niki and Jake, too, not just Jay. 

Especially after such a maturing year, letting himself go to cheer for his friends is exactly what he needs. Letting himself be any other 5th year, who isn't worrying about a death eater on their case, or their sister getting disowned. 

With his friends- his _family_ \- he can be his age. He can worry about the normal stuff, like homework and dating drama. Jay reminds him how to be young, just by being there.

Growing up, Jungwon was always jealous of the famous witches and wizards who fought beasts and dueled dark wizards. But having had a taste of it, Jungwon finds the real battles aren't nearly as glamourous as they appear, and all the magic he needs can be found right where he is- without a higher purpose or a mortal enemy. Life isn't about stopping the big bad, he knows that now.

Around him, spectators explode as the game begins, but Jungwon finds a strange calmness settling over him. He doesn't even like Quidditch, not really, but he's exactly where he wants to be, and he can't imagine being any happier than this.

(Jungwon proves himself wrong, just over an hour later.

Slytherin wins. Jungwon runs down to the pitch with the other students, catching Jay's eye through the crowd, and they meet in the middle. Jay grabs him by the waist, and spins them around in his excitement- a very dramatic, but very perfect moment. 

The crowd surges around them, cheering when Jungwon pulls Jay down for a kiss.

After a few minutes- or an hour, Jungwon isn't sure- he tries to push Jay back to his team, to send him over to accept the trophy, but Jay stubbornly stays put.

"Trophy doesn't matter," Jay says, just as sincere as he always is with Jungwon, "Don't you remember? I like you more than Quidditch."

Jungwon is too charmed to roll his eyes, just accepting Jay as his cheesy self, and pulling him in for another victory kiss. 

"And you know," Jay ponders, pulling away just enough to part their lips, "I think I love you more than anything, too."

And that- _that_ is the happiest Jungwon has ever felt. 

He can't wait to keep out-shining the feeling. With Jay, he's sure it won't be long.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you liked it!
> 
> I can’t say thank you enough, as y’all’s response to this fix has been a major confidence booster, and I will miss this fic:’)
> 
> Never fear, though, because part two is on the way!! I’m going to go back and edit this one first, but pt 2 is for sure coming soon! 
> 
> See you again w pt 2!
> 
> Also, feel free to skip this if you like, but I did create jungwon’s schedule for the sake of continuity, but most of it wasn’t mentioned, so I’m going to post it here, since I put in the effort and have nothing else to do with it. Just if anyone’s curious:)
> 
> -Monday-  
> Free period (Sunoo Divination)  
> Mid-Morning Break  
> Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw Potions  
> Lunch  
> Care of Magical Creatures
> 
> -Tuesday-  
> Ancient Runes  
> Mid-Morning Break  
> Hufflepuff/Gryffindor History of Magic  
> Lunch  
> Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw Transfiguration
> 
> -Wednesday-  
> Hufflepuff/Slytherin Charms  
> Mid-Morning Break  
> Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw Potions  
> Lunch  
> Free Period
> 
> -Thursday-  
> Divination (Sunoo Free, Niki Potions, 6th year R/G transfiguration[Hee, Sung, Jake])  
> Mid-Morning Break  
> Hufflepuff/Gryffindor History of Magic  
> Lunch  
> Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw Transfiguration
> 
> Slytherin Quidditch Practice
> 
> -Friday-  
> Hufflepuff/Slytherin Charms  
> Mid-Morning Break  
> Free Period  
> Lunch  
> Care of Magical Creatures
> 
> Dueling Club (1-4 years)
> 
> -Saturday-  
> Quidditch OR Hogsmeade
> 
> Dueling Club (5-7 years)


End file.
